Me, Myself, and Magic : Year Four
by Mermaid In Training
Summary: Stephanie finally feels like her life is almost perfect. Her and Harry, her new boyfriend, couldn't be happier. What could go wrong? There's never a quiet year at Hogwarts, especially since she's a step closer into The Boy Who Lived's heart. Some language. (On hiatus until years 1-3 are fully updated. Sorry to disappoint!)
1. New Arivals

**A/N: Hey y'all! I've recently changed Parker's name to Susanne. I realize I can't keep one character with the same name...I know. Well, it's just...this girl. Susanne. Her name as changed soooo much! So if you see any Parker's I may have missed, please tell me! Also tell me if there are any Kelby's, Lydia's, Rue's, Missy's, Haven's, and Karmon's. I think I've caught all the name changes, but if I didn't please still tell me. I know, I've changed her name a lot, forgive me! I promise this will be the last one! If I make a liar of myself and change it again, you may all crucio me**

* * *

I was sitting on my bed, trying to find something to watch on tv. After a couple minutes of surfing, I finally decided to watch " Whose Line Is It Anyway?" I knew Sage and Alexa would love to watch it with me, but they're to busy doing their 'own' thing. Sage was outside at the Soccer Field playing a game with some muggle kids her age, and Alexa was in her room, trying to get some extra work done before they went back to Hogwarts.

Ah, Hogwarts. I had met two of my best, non-relative friend at. Jennifer, Susane, and I had all met at Hogwarts our first year. Alexa had been excepted to Hogwarts, but a year earlier, and Sage had gone the same year as me and all my wonderful friends. And who could forget my wonderful boyfriend, Harry. Yes, Potter. We'd ended up professing our love, well attraction, towards each other when we went back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak. We had spent the all summer together, well when Harry could catch a break from the Dursley's, and it was one my best.

I heard a loud crash come from downstairs.

"Demons," I grumbled under my breath, rolling my eyes. Did we ever get a break? I thought. No. No we didn't. I orbed downstairs, but probably should of stayed in my room.

"Steph, don't come down here!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"Why not? " I asked, curious.

"Because, there's a demon that sucks the magic from you if you use your powers!" Prue shouted. The demon was like 6'8, it kind of looked like one big scab. Dude! I've seen him before. In the Book of Shadows. Oh, what was his name? I dunno, but it was Japanese for Power Stealer. At that moment, it held out its hand and pointed its palm towards me. What the crap? I thought. I felt like a dementor was trying to steal my soul. Then this weird looking white her. Diamond like stuff started coming out of my chest. Oh I get it, power stealers _steal _powers, so that's what it's doing. Suddenly I lost consciousness, as I collapsed to the floor.

"Steph, you're alright, just sit up," Phoebe said. I opened my eyes, to find the ceiling, and Alexa's face above me.'

"Whoa, hello Alexa. What happened?" I asked while Alexa helped me to sit up right. I felt light headed, a little woosy, and sharp shooting pain where I hit my head.

"Well the demon took your powers. You fainted probably because you're so use to your powers. Your aunt's vanquished the demon about an hour ago," Leo explained.

"You scared me half to death sissy! I thought I'd been reduced to only one 14 year old, blonde sister," Alexa said while hugging me, and laughing.

"Don't worry, when I do die, I'll make sure I go out with a bang," I said waving my hands around.

"Let's just hope that's not that soon. Little miss Dare-Devil," Phoebe proclaimed.

"Where's Sage? I'd hate for her to miss out on this," I asked.

"Right here," she said while coming out of the kitchen. " And look! I brought friends." Just then, Jennifer and Susanne came out of the kitchen behind Sage

"Suze, Jennifer!" I shouted while they helped me up, giving me hugs as they did. " What're you two doing here?"

"Oh yeah! Guess what we know!" Jennifer said.

"What?" Alexa and I asked together.

"Well, Ron's mum sent us a letter and it was inviting you two, Harry, Hermione, Jennifer, Sage, and me to go to the Quidditch World Cup with them!" Suze squealed while jumping up and down.

"Really?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"That's sooo cool! Isn't it Bulgaria vs. Ireland?"

"Yep, we asked your aunts if you guys could go, and..." Jennifer said, pausing. And what? Did the committee members say no or something? It was probably Prue. She's the strictest. Or Piper, she's the most motherly to us. It was her. Definitely _not _what if one of them did say no. Maybe if they did it was because I just had my powers sucked out. Well, even if that was the case, they couldn't exclude Alexa or Sage from going, it wouldn't be fair.

"And we said yes. You're fourteen years old and Alexa's fifteen. And it's not like you're going alone, you'll be with friends," Piper said.

"Really, oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed, while jumping up and down with Jennifer, Suze, and my sisters.

"Just be sure you have your cell phones. All of you," Prue said. Just then Jennifer, Sage, Suze, Alexa, and I pulled out our phones and said, "Can you hear me now, gooooood," and laughed.

"Cool, so when are they coming?" Sage asked.

"Well we wrote back the Weasley's, and they said they're going to get Harry Sunday night at five, so they suggested coming around four thirty. Stephanie, if you wanted to, you could go with them to get Harry," Piper said.

"You mean Stephanie's lover-boy?" Jennifer said, sarcastically.

"Will you shut up," I said, glaring at her.

"Ya, him," Phoebe said with a giddy smile.

"So, are they staying the night?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well, why not, if you're going Sunday, which is in two days," Piper replied.

"That's a great idea. They can stay the night, and I, being Prue, can go to work."

"Yeah, you should do that," Alexa said while hugging Prue.

"Let's get this band wagon l on a roll," Suze said while pointing towards the stairs that lead to the girls' rooms.

"Suzer, you're so weird," Alexa said while climbing the stairs.

"I know, well, see you guys later," Suze said while waving bye to our aunts.


	2. Message from Loverboy

What's better than five girls in one, enlarged room, with scary movies, lots of popcorn, and caffeine? Nothing. Incase you haven't guessed this, that's what we did. We were all huddled in a group, under our large, cuddly covers, a large bowl of popcorn in the middle, surrounded by other sugary, junk food, and bottles of soda. We had already watched _The Ring_, _Paranormal Activity_, and _Stay Alive_. They were currently watching _Dawn of the Dead_. No sleepover horror movie marathon would be complete without a good, or scary, zombie movie.

Suddenly, there was a faint tap at my window, causing the five of us to jump and gasp.

"What was that?" Sage asked, in a whisper.

"I dunno," I barley said. "Maybe someone should go see." We all looked at each other, then down the line to the person closest to the window. Unfortunately for Susanne, that was her. She pouted and shook her head 'NO', but the four of us practically pushed her out of bed. She slowly walked towards the window, whilst the tapping continued. Finally, she reached the window, and slowly pulled the curtain back.

We all let out hit pitched screams while Suze ran back to the bed, jumping on us as we hugged each other.

"Guys, g-guys! C-calm down. It-it's Hedwig," Jennifer said while catching her breath. She walked over to the window, and took the note from Hedwig's beak. As soon as she took it, Hedwig nipped her finger.

"Hey, that hurt. Steph do you have any owl treats?" Jennifer frowned while a trickle of blood came out of her right pointer finger.

"Yeah, I have them here somewhere," I said, my breathing now returned to normal, and scrimmaged through my dresser, flinging makeup, hair stuff, some old school assignments, a moldy toothbrush, cd cases like Jimmy Eat World, Paramore, the Titanic soundtrack, and finally pulled out a brown and white box shaped like an owl.

"Will someone turn on the light?" Jennifer asked.

"Sure," Alexa said while standing up and turning the light back on.

"Here," I said, hurling the box at Jennifer.

"Thanks, here's the letter," Jennifer said while handing the letter to Susanne and giving Hedwig a couple of Owl treats. Suzer carefully opened the letter, and everyone crowded around her, except Jennifer, whoooooo (Merci Bocoup Mr. Hendon._ We're in America. We speak English_! Shut up Matthew! Sorry, random author outburst. Please ignore...or not. Oohhh, the joys of 8th grade. That was defiantly, a good year ^.^) was feeding Hedwig.

"Well, what's it say?" I asked.

"I'll just read it to you guys. Ok it says:

_Hey Stephanie, how are you?I'm sorry we haven't been able to hang out lately. I hope you're not mad at me; I haven't gotten a break from the Dursley's in days. _Awww, that's so cute!"

"Will you please just keep reading the letter," I said while blushing a little.

"Uh, fine. _Well, that's really not the reason I wrote. I've been having these strange dreams lately. I'm standing in this old, dusty room. Wormtail and some other man are gathered around a large armchair. I'm not sure what, or who, is in the armchair. They notice I'm there, call me over, and I guess kill me with _Avada Kedavra_. I wouldn't know exactly, cause I wake up just then, and my scar hurts like no other. I woke up the other morning, unsure what to do. Once I thought about it, you'll never guess whose voice I heard in my head, telling me what to do. If you guessed Hermione, then you're right. She told me to write to Sirius. I decided to tell you too, obviously. You're the only one, other than Sirius, who knows. I'm not sure if you know yet, but Ron invited us (your sisters, Jennifer and Susanne, too) to the Quidditch World Cup. Hopefully you can go, so we don't have to wait til school starts to hang out. Can't wait to see you, whenever that is, Harry. _Well, are you going to write him back?" Suze asked as she slipped the note back in the envelope.

"Of course she is. She can't help talking to her lover-boy," Jennifer said sarcastically. I picked up the moldy toothbrush, and chucked it at her. In return, I got a very pleasing girly squeal, and smiled.

"I guess I can write back, although by the time he gets it, we'll probably be at the Weasley's together. Or even at Hogwarts," I stated. I heard Jennifer quietly say something about him being my lover-boy. Would she give that up already? I grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing my reply.

"Can't wait to see you," I said while writing," Stephanie." I gave the letter to Hedwig, and watched her fly away.

"We'll, I guess we can go back to the movie now," Alexa said.

"Oh no! No way hosay! I am NOT watching anymore scary movies tonight. Especially _not_ a zombie movie," Susanne said defiantly.

Just then, Kiara came running out ofmy closet. She stopped and meowed at the door.

"What's wrong baby?"I cooed at her. She meowed again. "She's been acting very odd lately. I don't know why?"

"You know cats can tell if something in the universe isn't right," Alexa said.

"Ya. We know. We don't really need anything wrong going on right now,"I said, flinging myself onthe bed.

"What do you mean?" Jennifer asked while lying down next to me.

"You heard what Harry said. About his dream, where he wakes up just before he dies, and his scars hurt like hell. His scar only hurt if Vol-"

"Don't say it," Alexa said while putting her hand over my mouth.

"-demort's involved," I mumbled through Alexa's hand.

"Eww, you slobbered on my hand," Alexa said while lifting her hand of offmy mouth and shaking the spit off her hand.

"So I'm guessing that those dreams are somehow connected to-" Ilooked over at Alexa. She gaveme a look like ' don't say it'. "Are you really afraid to say his name? After being around me and my friends for three years?"

"As Hermione says, 'Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself,'" Jennifer quoted.

"Look, I don't care what you and your friends call him in your spare time, but I'm just a bit superstitious. Can you please come up with a name for him, just in our circle of friends?" Alexa asked innocently.

"Ok, how about...um...Moldy Shorts?" Suze suggested.

"Ok, from now on, 'You-Know-Who' is called Moldy Shorts. As I was saying, I'm guessing that Harry's dream might somehow be connected to...Moldy…Shorts," I said, making an unsure face.

"What's this about shorts being moldy?" Piper asked while opening the door.

"Nothing. So what is it?" I asked, looking at her upside down.

"Well it's time for you all to go to bed," Piper said.

"But whyyyy?" I whined.

"Because, you need an early start tomorrow,'' Piper said giving her a cross look.

"Fine,"I said with a little angsty whine.

"So, when are the Weasley's coming over tomorrow?" Alexa asked.

"Uhm, I think around, 4:00 pm, so we're gonna have to keep the demon attacks away from then," Piper answered.

"Hahaha, that's funny. You won't be able to keep the demons away for an hour, or even thirty-minutes," Jennifer said sarcastically.

"Get to bed. _Now_," Piper finished

"Fine, we'll go to bed now. See ya in the morning," I said, putting all the food in my mini fridge.

"Oh, and make sure you charge your cell phones tonight," Piper reminded the four of them.

"Ok, ok, ok, we will. Good night now," I said. Piper said "good night" to all of us, and we got on their pjs. We climbed into bed, and pulled the covers up. Alexa was waiting by the light, so she could turn it off when everyone was settled. I got settled, and started thinking about what had recently happened. What with Harry's letter and all. I was positive that his dream had something to do with Voldemort. I mean, common. Why else would he be this worried. Telling Sirius and myself, waiting to tell the others, and hearing Hermione's voice in his head! _Sigh_, what am I going to do with that boy? And with that final thought, I drifted into sleep.


	3. Why are you in my dream?

I woke up, lying on my back. I sat up, and noticed that no one else was in bed. I went to look at my clock, but it wasn't on my dresser, in fact, my dresser wasn't even there. I looked out the window, and everything was dark outside. But strangely enough, my room was fully lit, light it was daytime. I got out of bed and went down the stairs. I saw Harry standing in the foyer, smiling.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" I asked confused, but happy, standing in front of him.

"I'm going to break your heart," he said plainly. Actually, it wasn't plain, like without any feeling. He sounded, happy about it. He even smiled once he said it.

"What? Harry, what are you talking about?" I asked confused. I didn't even care what he said. Well I did, but I was too confused.

"You know it to be true, Stephanie. I'm the boy-who-lived. I'm a _celebrity_. Everyone cares about me and my tragic past, but all I care about is me," Harry said, smirking slightly.

"Harry? What's going on? Are you ok? I don't think you're feeling well. Sit down and I'll go find one of my aunts, or Alexa," I said, grabbing Harry's arm, scared, trying to steer him towards the couch.

"You just don't seem to understand, do you? You are so young and naive. All I care about is fame. Eternal glory. Power. You're just a pawn. I could care less if you get hurt. In fact, I'm hoping you _do_ get hurt."

"Harry! Please stop! I don't know what you're talking about, but this isn't the Harry I know and like! Please, stop this!" I pleaded, tears starting to well up in my eyes.

"You're right," he said, changing from Harry to a hideous figure. He was a sickish dark pale color. He was bald, no hair on his entire body. He had gross purple veins stretching all over his body. He had no nose, only two slits for nostrils where his nose should have been. I had never seen this person before, but I knew it was Voldemort. Or what he should look like at least. I gasped and let go of his arm, taking a few steps back.

"Wha-what the hell are you doing here?" I asked, afraid. Okay, I _have_ to be dreaming now.

"I'm not here to harm you, Cradey. But to warn you. Everything Harry said is true. Maybe he doesn't mean it right now, but he will. He _will_ break your heart. He will change into a monster. He'll think that you're in danger, and change. He'll hurt you, thinking it'll save you. He'll become a heartless monster. (You: like Kenya West? Me: No, Voldemort doesn't even know who that is.) He will hurt _every_one who cares about him. He will gain power, more and more power all the time. The only way to stop him, you ask? You. In his mind you will be what made him who he will be. So naturally he was be afraid that you will also be the one to take his power. He will make you out to be his enemy. He will also fear me. Fear that he is not more powerful than I. We will be fighting on the same side. For the same cause. Harry will be evil, and you and I, good," Voldemort spoke, walking around me. I stood there, taking in what he said. No, he's lying. It's _Voldemort. _Harry's enemy, the good side of the wizarding world's enemy, by extent, _my_ enemy!

"No," I said, clenching my fists. "Harry will _never_ hurt me. He will _never_ be evil. We will _never_ be on the same side."

"Then, you will die," he said, pulling out his wand and pointing it at me. "_Avada Kedavra!_" I screamed and jumped to my right, trying to avoid the curse.

I suddenly woke up, and was flinging myself over Sage and Alexa, who were sleeping to my right.

"Whoa! Hello, Stephanie!" Sage said as I rolled over her. I guess I woke them up, as Jennifer and Suze asked what was going on, and Alexa said something similar to Sage. I hit my head on my nightstand, landed on the floor, and rolled over a few times til I was closer to the door.

"Oh my god! Stephanie, what's wrong? What happened?" Alexa said as she jumped out of bed. She always seemed to be the more caring sister.

"Bad dream," I mumbled into my carpet. I heard doors opening down the hall and footsteps.

"Ohh, like Harry's?" Sage asked.

"You mean her lover-boy?" Jennifer asked. She's still on this? I thought she might have slept it off.

"No, and shut up Jennifer," I mumbled again, too lazy to get up.

"Is everything alright? What's going on?" Prue asked as she opened my door, the corner hitting me in my head. "Oh, Stephanie! I'm so sorry!"

"Ow," I grumbled.

"Stephanie?" Phoebe asked, walking through the small door opening. "Lemme help you up."

"Can't I just lie here?" I asked lazily.

"No," All three of my aunts said. I sighed and rolled over, allowing them to help me up. I stood up, put my hand on my throbbing head, and looked outside. _Phew_, everything looks normal.

"What time is it?" Suze mumbled.

"8:30," Alexa said. "And no you can't go back to sleep, Sage." Sage groaned, and sat up straight.

"Well if you girls get up I'll make you some pancakes," Piper said, following the rest of my aunts back to their rooms. I sat back down on my bed and sighed.

"Stephanie? What happened in your dream?" Jennifer asked.

"Yea. What was so bad that you screamed, and rolled over Alexa and me?" Sage asked.

"Well…" I closed my eyes, trying to recall everything that did happen. Once I could remember most of it, I opened my eyes back up and told them all of it.

"Oh wow," Suze said.

"That's some dream," Sage said.

"So let me get this straight," Jennifer said. "You woke up, went downstairs, Harry started talking nonsense, turned into Moldy Shorts, told you basically you two would be on the same side, and tried to kill you."

"Ya. Pretty much," I said.

"Well, it was just a dream, wasn't it? Just clear your mind and forget about it. Now common, there should be some yummy pancakes waiting for us downstairs," Alexa said while standing up and walking downstairs. I stood up and followed Alexa downstairs.

We sat around the island and enjoyed some delicious strawberry pancakes. Afterwards, we went upstairs and took our turns showering and changing. Once I showered, I changed into a cute red plaid tank, some dark wash capris, and some black low top converse. For the rest of the day, we hung out in my room playing games. We played UNO, spoons, ERS, BS, Clue, Disney Monopoly, Wii sports, and other fun games. At three we orbed Jennifer and Suze back to their houses, so all of us could pack, since we'd be staying at the Weasley's til we left for Hogwarts.

Once I finished packing, around four fifteen, I dragged my stuff downstairs and plopped myself on the couch, waiting for everybody else. A few minutes later, I was joined by Alexa, as Sage went to go get Jennifer and Suze. Once everyone was gathered back in my living room, trunks and cages with animals in hand, we waited. Rather than waiting in silence, we plugged in one of our iPods to the speakers, and listened to Radio Disney.

Around four forty, we started getting a little worried, until we heard sounds coming from the fireplace. We turned off the music, as Mr. Weasley walked out.

"Hello girls, good afternoon," Mr. Weasley said politely. The five of smiled, and returned our greetings. "The boys should be behind me soon. Where are your aunts?"

"Well Piper's at the club, getting ready for tonight, Prue had a photo shoot to do, and Phoebe's somewhere in the kitchen," Alexa explained. As Phoebe heard her name, walking into the living room, Fred, George, and Ron stumbled out of the fireplace. As Phoebe and Mr. Weasley discussed the plan, the eight of us talked about the match and such.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, causing the ten of us to be knocked to our feet.


	4. Darklighters, Muggles and Fatties Oh My

As we regained ourselves, and stood up, there was a big scary Dark Lighter stood in the living room.

"Crap! Okay, anyone who's a white lighter, run!" Phoebe shouted. Alexa, Sage, and I looked at each other and ran into the sun room. Phoebe told the others to try and get rid of it, as she ran upstairs to get the book. We stood in the sun room, trying to hear what was going on, when the Dark Lighter popped in behind us. We turned around and screamed, running towards the stairs. We ran up stairs, trying to take cover in our room, when, AGAIN, we ran into the freaking Dark Lighter. We turned around to run back down the stairs, when the Dark Lighter aimed his poisonous arrow, and shot me in the back. I screamed in pain, and tumbled down the stairs just behind my sisters. All of the girls screamed, and carried me over to the couch, laying me on my stomach.

"What the bloody hell's going on?" Ron asked as the four Weasley's, Sage, Jennifer, and Susanne gathered around the couch.

"Dark Lighter, hang on," Alexa said, turning her attention to him, blowing him up with her hand.

"Ow. Ow. Oh ow, shit!" I said, the arrow stinging the back of my right shoulder. Alexa ran back to the couch, tears in her eyes, orbed the arrow out and onto the coffee table.

"I'll go tell Phoebe," Alexa said, trying to hide how scared she was.

"What's up with this…..Dark Lighter?" Ron asked.

"Well," Sage started. "Dark Lighters try to….kill White Lighters. Like us. Like…Stephanie. The poison in their arrows is deadly. Hopefully Phoebe can brew up a potion that'll quickly get rid of the poison." There was a rush of footsteps, as Phoebe and Alexa came running down the stairs. Sage and Suze stood up, following them into the kitchen to brew a potion. Jennifer stayed with me. I started sweating, breathing heavier, and becoming light headed.

"Why does this crap always happen to me?" I asked sarcastically.

"Maybe it comes with being Harry's girl," Jennifer joked.

"My lover-boy?" I joked back.

"Ya, him," Jennifer smiled, as Alexa came in with some nasty looking stuff in a cup.

"Don't tell me I have to drink that," I frowned, as she gave me the drink. I sat up a little, and drank all of it, which almost made me gag.

"Ok, no we're gonna have to patch your arm up. So…uhm…anyone who doesn't want to see Stephanie half naked, leave. Wait, never mind. Arthur do you mid taking the girls and their things to the Burrow, then coming back to get Stephanie so you can all go get Harry?" Phoebe asked.

"Sure, we'll be back soon. Common girls, get your things and let's go," Mr. Weasley said ushering them all towards the fireplace. One by one, they all left with their things, and mine. Phoebe patched up my arm, and helped me sit back up by the time the Weasley's had returned. "Better now?" Fred and George said at the same time. I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"Well then, that's great. Unfortunately, we are a bit late. But no worries, no worries. Harry shouldn't be too upset. I will go first, and then Fred, then George, then you and Ron shall go," Mr. Weasley said. We watched as he left, then a few moments later Fred and George left. I said goodbye to Phoebe, and stepped into the fireplace with Ron. I grabbed his hand, which felt weird, because it was Ron, and not Harry. I closed my eyes, as we were engulfed in green flames, and started spinning.

When we landed, it wasn't very calmly. We fell hard onto three other people, who happened to be Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George.

"What're we doing here? Has something gone wrong?" Ron asked. I tried standing up, stepping on somebody's feet, the wound on my back hurting.

"Oh no, Ron. No this is exactly where we wanted to end up," Fred said sarcastically.

"Ya, we're having the time of our lives here," George mumbled.

"Boys, boys…" Mr. Weasley said weakly. "I'm trying to think what to do…Yes…only way. Stand back, Harry." I heard someone walking away from the fireplace.

"Wait," I heard Harry's Uncle Vernon bellow. "What exactly are you-" Before he could finish, Mr. Weasley had pulled out his wand and blasted the boards out of the way. Once the dust had settled, we stepped out, to see the Dursley's cowering in fear behind the sofa.

"That's better. Ah-you must be Harry's uncle," Mr. Weasley said, straightening himself up, stepping towards Vernon, offering him his hand. Vernon just looked at it in disgust, backing away from him. I rolled my eyes at the wimpy Dursley's, and smiled when I saw Harry.

"Stephanie?" he asked, smiling. I returned the smile, and hugged him. "What're you doing?"

"I came with them to get you. We're orbing out, so there's no chance of repeating what happened with Diagon Alley," I said. I leaned up and whispered into his ear, "I have to tell you about a dream I had. Not here though." He looked at me, and nodded.

"Er - yes - sorry about that," said Mr. Weasley, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see - just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking - but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate." I looked at Harry, and we both thought the same thing, they hadn't understood a word he said.

"Hello, Harry. Got your trunk ready?" Mr. Weasley said, changing the subject.

"It's upstairs," Harry said, grinning.

"We'll get it," said Fred at once.

"Well," said Mr. Weasley, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the very nasty silence. "Very - erm - very nice place you've got here. Sorry we're a bit late. We ran into a…a bit of a situation at Stephanie's. I do hope you're feeling alright." I smiled and nodded.

"What happened?" Harry asked, looking at me concerned.

"Dark Lighter. I'll explain later," I said, as Fred and George came back into the room carrying Harry's school trunk. They glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. Their faces cracked into identical evil grins. Oh no, what's going on in their mind? I though.

"Ah, right," Mr. Weasley. "Better get cracking then." He pushed up the sleeves of his robes and took out his wand. I had to laugh to myself, as I saw the Dursleys draw back against the wall.

"Incendio!" Mr. Weasley said, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall behind him. Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours. Mr. Weasley took a small drawstring bag from his pocket, untied it, took a pinch of the powder inside, and threw it onto the flames, which turned emerald green and roared higher than ever. "Off you go then, Fred."

"Coming," said Fred. "Oh no - hang on -" A bag of sweets had spilled out of Fred's pocket and the contents were now rolling in every direction - big, fat toffees in brightly colored wrappers. Fred scrambled around, cramming them back into his pocket, then gave the Dursleys a cheery wave, stepped forward, and walked right into the fire, saying "the Burrow!" Harry's aunt gave a little shuddering gasp. There was a whooshing sound, and Fred vanished.

"Right then, George," Mr. Weasley said, "you and the trunk." Harry helped George carry the trunk forward into the flames and turn it onto its end so that he could hold it better. Then, with a second whoosh, George cried "the Burrow!" and vanished too. "Ron, you next."

"See you," said Ron brightly to the Dursleys. He smiled at the two of us, then stepped into the fire, shouted "the Burrow!" and disappeared. Harry, Mr. Weasley and I were all that remained.

"Well… 'bye then," Harry said to the Dursleys. They didn't say anything at all. Harry came over, and took my hand. I was ready to orb us out, when we heard these horrible gagging sounds, and I saw Dudley kneeling beside the coffee table. We saw this nasty, long purple thing coming out of his mouth, and we realized that it was his tongue.

"We better go," I said, as Mr. Weasley tried to convince the Dursleys he could fix it.

"Aw, but it'd be so fun to stay and watch," Harry pouted playfully. I rolled my eyes and orbed us to the Burrow.

As we regained ourselves, and stood up, there was a big scary Dark Lighter stood in the living room.

"Crap! Okay, anyone who's a white lighter, run!" Phoebe shouted. Alexa, Sage, and I looked at each other and ran into the sun room. Phoebe told the others to try and get rid of it, as she ran upstairs to get the book. We stood in the sun room, trying to hear what was going on, when the Dark Lighter popped in behind us. We turned around and screamed, running towards the stairs. We ran up stairs, trying to take cover in our room, when, AGAIN, we ran into the freaking Dark Lighter. We turned around to run back down the stairs, when the Dark Lighter aimed his poisonous arrow, and shot me in the back. I screamed in pain, and tumbled down the stairs just behind my sisters. All of the girls screamed, and carried me over to the couch, laying me on my stomach.

"What the bloody hell's going on?" Ron asked as the four Weasley's, Sage, Jennifer, and Susanne gathered around the couch.

"Dark Lighter, hang on," Alexa said, turning her attention to him, blowing him up with her hand.

"Ow. Ow. Oh ow, shit!" I said, the arrow stinging the back of my right shoulder. Alexa ran back to the couch, tears in her eyes, orbed the arrow out and onto the coffee table.

"I'll go tell Phoebe," Alexa said, trying to hide how scared she was.

"What's up with this…..Dark Lighter?" Ron asked.

"Well," Sage started. "Dark Lighters try to….kill White Lighters. Like us. Like…Stephanie. The poison in their arrows is deadly. Hopefully Phoebe can brew up a potion that'll quickly get rid of the poison." There was a rush of footsteps, as Phoebe and Alexa came running down the stairs. Sage and Suze stood up, following them into the kitchen to brew a potion. Jennifer stayed with me. I started sweating, breathing heavier, and becoming light headed.

"Why does this crap always happen to me?" I asked sarcastically.

"Maybe it comes with being Harry's girl," Jennifer joked.

"My lover-boy?" I joked back.

"Ya, him," Jennifer smiled, as Alexa came in with some nasty looking stuff in a cup.

"Don't tell me I have to drink that," I frowned, as she gave me the drink. I sat up a little, and drank all of it, which almost made me gag.

"Ok, no we're gonna have to patch your arm up. So…uhm…anyone who doesn't want to see Stephanie half naked, leave. Wait, never mind. Arthur do you mid taking the girls and their things to the Burrow, then coming back to get Stephanie so you can all go get Harry?" Phoebe asked.

"Sure, we'll be back soon. Common girls, get your things and let's go," Mr. Weasley said ushering them all towards the fireplace. One by one, they all left with their things, and mine. Phoebe patched up my arm, and helped me sit back up by the time the Weasley's had returned. "Better now?" Fred and George said at the same time. I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"Well then, that's great. Unfortunately, we are a bit late. But no worries, no worries. Harry shouldn't be too upset. I will go first, and then Fred, then George, then you and Ron shall go," Mr. Weasley said. We watched as he left, then a few moments later Fred and George left. I said goodbye to Phoebe, and stepped into the fireplace with Ron. I grabbed his hand, which felt weird, because it was Ron, and not Harry. I closed my eyes, as we were engulfed in green flames, and started spinning.

When we landed, it wasn't very calmly. We fell hard onto three other people, who happened to be Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George.

"What're we doing here? Has something gone wrong?" Ron asked. I tried standing up, stepping on somebody's feet, the wound on my back hurting.

"Oh no, Ron. No this is exactly where we wanted to end up," Fred said sarcastically.

"Ya, we're having the time of our lives here," George mumbled.

"Boys, boys…" Mr. Weasley said weakly. "I'm trying to think what to do…Yes…only way. Stand back, Harry." I heard someone walking away from the fireplace.

"Wait," I heard Harry's Uncle Vernon bellow. "What exactly are you-" Before he could finish, Mr. Weasley had pulled out his wand and blasted the boards out of the way. Once the dust had settled, we stepped out, to see the Dursley's cowering in fear behind the sofa.

"That's better. Ah-you must be Harry's uncle," Mr. Weasley said, straightening himself up, stepping towards Vernon, offering him his hand. Vernon just looked at it in disgust, backing away from him. I rolled my eyes at the wimpy Dursley's, and smiled when I saw Harry.

"Stephanie?" he asked, smiling. I returned the smile, and hugged him. "What're you doing?"

"I came with them to get you. We're orbing out, so there's no chance of repeating what happened with Diagon Alley," I said. I leaned up and whispered into his ear, "I have to tell you about a dream I had. Not here though." He looked at me, and nodded.

"Er - yes - sorry about that," said Mr. Weasley, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see - just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking - but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate." I looked at Harry, and we both thought the same thing, they hadn't understood a word he said.

"Hello, Harry. Got your trunk ready?" Mr. Weasley said, changing the subject.

"It's upstairs," Harry said, grinning.

"We'll get it," said Fred at once.

"Well," said Mr. Weasley, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the very nasty silence. "Very - erm - very nice place you've got here. Sorry we're a bit late. We ran into a…a bit of a situation at Stephanie's. I do hope you're feeling alright." I smiled and nodded.

"What happened?" Harry asked, looking at me concerned.

"Dark Lighter. I'll explain later," I said, as Fred and George came back into the room carrying Harry's school trunk. They glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. Their faces cracked into identical evil grins. Oh no, what's going on in their mind? I though.

"Ah, right," Mr. Weasley. "Better get cracking then." He pushed up the sleeves of his robes and took out his wand. I had to laugh to myself, as I saw the Dursleys draw back against the wall.

"Incendio!" Mr. Weasley said, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall behind him. Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours. Mr. Weasley took a small drawstring bag from his pocket, untied it, took a pinch of the powder inside, and threw it onto the flames, which turned emerald green and roared higher than ever. "Off you go then, Fred."

"Coming," said Fred. "Oh no - hang on -" A bag of sweets had spilled out of Fred's pocket and the contents were now rolling in every direction - big, fat toffees in brightly colored wrappers. Fred scrambled around, cramming them back into his pocket, then gave the Dursleys a cheery wave, stepped forward, and walked right into the fire, saying "the Burrow!" Harry's aunt gave a little shuddering gasp. There was a whooshing sound, and Fred vanished.

"Right then, George," Mr. Weasley said, "you and the trunk." Harry helped George carry the trunk forward into the flames and turn it onto its end so that he could hold it better. Then, with a second whoosh, George cried "the Burrow!" and vanished too. "Ron, you next."

"See you," said Ron brightly to the Dursleys. He smiled at the two of us, then stepped into the fire, shouted "the Burrow!" and disappeared. Harry, Mr. Weasley and I were all that remained.

"Well… 'bye then," Harry said to the Dursleys. They didn't say anything at all. Harry came over, and took my hand. I was ready to orb us out, when we heard these horrible gagging sounds, and I saw Dudley kneeling beside the coffee table. We saw this nasty, long purple thing coming out of his mouth, and we realized that it was his tongue.

"We better go," I said, as Mr. Weasley tried to convince the Dursleys he could fix it.

"Aw, but it'd be so fun to stay and watch," Harry pouted playfully. I rolled my eyes and orbed us to the Burrow.


	5. Quality Time At The Weasley's

"Did he eat it?" Fred asked after we orbed into the living room.

"Yeah, what was it?" Harry asked, still holding my hand.

"Ton-Tongue Toffee," Fred said brightly. "George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer…" Everyone exploded with laughter. Harry and I, mostly Harry though, were introduced to the two eldest Weasley boys, Charlie and Bill. Before anything else could be said, there was a faint popping noise, and Mr. Weasley appeared out of thin air at George's shoulder. He was looking angrier than I've seen him, or anyone else look. Even my aunts, so that's some serious anger.

"That wasn't funny Fred!" he shouted. "What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?" "I didn't give him anything," Fred said with another evil grin. "I just dropped it… It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to."

"You dropped it on purpose!" Mr. Weasley bellowed. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet -"

"How big did his tongue get?" George asked eagerly.

"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!" Everyone, but Mr. Weasley, laughed. "It isn't funny! That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons-"

"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" Fred said indignantly.

"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git," George said. "Isn't he, Harry?"

"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," Harry said honestly.

"That's not the point!" Mr. Weasley yelled. "You wait until I tell your mother -"

"Tell me what?" a voice behind them said. Mrs. Weasley had walked in, her face showed nothing, but her eyes were narrowed with suspicion.

"Oh hello, Harry, dear," she said, spotting him and smiling. However, she returned her attention to Mr. Weasley. "Tell me what, Arthur?" Mr. Weasley hesitated. Harry could tell that, however angry he was with Fred and George, he hadn't really intended to tell Mrs. Weasley what had happened. There was a silence, while Mr. Weasley eyed his wife nervously. Hermione and Ginny came downstairs, slowly stopping when they reached the bottom. "Tell me what, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley repeated, in a dangerous sort of voice.

"It's nothing, Molly," Mr. Weasley replied. "Fred and George just - but I've had words with them -"

"What have they done this time?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes -"

"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" Hermione said.

"He knows where he's sleeping," said Ron, "in my room, he slept there last -"

"Show him were he's sleeping," Hermione repeated.

"And we can show Stephanie were she's sleeping," Ginny added, catching on.

"Oh," said Ron, finally getting. "Right."

"Yeah, we'll come too," George said, hoping to slip by.

"You stay where you are!" Mrs. Weasley snarled. Harry and I edged out of the living room, as Ron left the kitchen. I looked back at my sisters and friends, Alexa looking desperate. 'Help' she mouthed. I looked around as we climbed the stairs, Hermione and Ginny in front of us, and waved my hand saying 'come on.'

"What are Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked as we climbed, the other five girls slowly climbing the stairs at first, but walking much faster as we climbed to catch up. Ron and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn't.

"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," Ron whispered quietly. "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that…"

"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," Ginny added. "We thought they just liked the noise."

"Only, most of the stuff - well, all of it, really - was a bit dangerous," Ron said, "and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms… She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected."

"And then there was this big row," Ginny said. "Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop." Just then a door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.

"Hi, Percy," said Harry.

"Oh hello, Harry," said Percy. "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know I've got a report to finish for the office – and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."

"We're not thundering," Ron said irritably. "We're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic." We continued climbing up the stairs, as Percy sneered, closing his the nine of us climbed up three more flights of stairs, shouts from the kitchen below echoed up to them. Apparently Mr. Weasley had told Mrs. Weasley about the toffees.

"Ya, here's where we'll all be staying," Ginny said shortly as we passed her room. I guess my sisters and friends didn't want to feel out of place, since none of them were really friends with Harry or the others, so they slipped into Ginny's room.

After what seemed forever, we finally reached the top of the stairs, where Ron's room was. As we entered, a small owl was hopping up and down in a small cage and twittering madly.

"Shut up, Pig," Ron said, plopping himself down on one of the two beds in his room.

"Why are you calling that owl Pig?" I asked.

"Because he's being stupid," Ginny said. "His proper name is Pigwidgeon."

"Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all," said Ron sarcastically. "Ginny named him," he explained to Harry and I. "She reckons it's sweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won't answer to anything else. So now he's Pig. I've got to keep him up here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, come to that." Pigwidgeon zoomed happily around his cage, hooting shrilly. I leaned over to Ginny and whispered, "I think it's a cute name." She smiled at me and whispered a 'thank you'.

"Have you had a good summer, Harry?" Hermione asked. "Did you get our food parcels and everything?"

"I've had a great summer," Harry said, coming over and hugging me from behind. "Those cakes saved my life, thanks a lot."

"And have you heard from -?" Ron began, but fell silent. We all knew he was going to ask about Sirius, well except for Ginny. The only people who knew about what happened last year were the four of us and Dumbledore. Well and my sisters. I'm sorry, but I can't help it! They're the two I turn to and gossip about everything. Of course once I told them that Harry and I were dating, they wanted to know everything. And I mean _everything_. Every. Last. Thing.

"I think they've stopped arguing," Hermione said, trying cover the awkward moment as Ginny looked curiously at the four of us. "Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"

"Yeah, yeah. All right," Ron said. I stopped outside of Ginny's room and kissed Harry, telling him I'd see him later. I slipped in as the four of them went downstairs, and flopped down on a large bed by Sage.

"So what exactly happened at the Dursley's?" I smiled slightly and told them everything. Like I said before, _every last detail._ Once I had told them everything, we started laughing.

"Why couldn't we have gone with you?" Sage asked. "That would have been awesome to see."

"As awesome as it might have been, nine of us stuffed into that fireplace. It was bad enough with five, but nine? No me gusta," I said. (I speak random languages at random times. Mostly French, but thanks to all my Spanish taking friends, and Sarah, I now also talk random Spanish.)

When it was time to eat, we all went downstairs and out into the garden, where a long table had been set up where the 16 some of us could all sit, comfortably. I sat somewhere down by one end of the table by Harry, and Jennifer sat on my other side.

After we had eaten a delicious meal and some homemade strawberry ice cream, we were all ushered up to our rooms to go to bed, since we had to get up early tomorrow. I walked hand in hand with Harry back inside, and up the stairs. We stopped at Ginny's room, and he kissed me goodnight softly. I smiled, hugged him, and told him goodnight. I walked into the room, changed into my pjs, took my contacts out, and climbed into bed between Alexa and Susanne, falling asleep soon.


	6. Is anyone really a morning person?

The next morning I was woken up by somebody shaking me awake, holding my glasses.

"Common sissy, you gotta get up now," Alexa said sleepily.

"Ya, if I can't sleep in then you can't either," Sage added grumpily. She isn't really a morning person. I sat up slowly, taking my glasses from Alexa, and looked around. I noticed I was the only one in our room not up. I got outta bed slowly and grabbed my clothes. I changed into a white graphic tee, some jeans, converse, and a purple jacket. I put my contacts in and went downstairs for some breakfast.

"Breakfast is almost ready dears, but would you mind going upstairs and waking Harry and Ron. They're the only two not up," Mrs. Weasley said sweetly.

"Come on, Stephanie," Hermione said while grabbing my wrist and pulling me back up the stairs.

"Ugh, don't make me take the stairs again," I whined as we climbed back up.

"You're not much of a morning person either, are you?" she asked.

"I must have picked it up from Sage." I walked all the way back upstairs with Hermione into Ron's room. When we got there we saw Harry and Ron sound asleep in their beds.

"I'll take Ron, and you take Harry," Hermione said as she walked over to his bed.

"Harry, Harry. You gotta get up," I said kneeling by his bed. When I took a closer look at him, he was sweating, and didn't look too happy. I started shaking his shoulder as I continued saying his name. Finally, he woke up with a start and looked at me.

"Stephanie," he said putting his glasses on.

"Harry, are you alright? Was it that dream again?" I asked, still holding his shoulder. He swallowed and nodded. "It'll be okay. But anyways, it's time to get up. Breakfast is almost ready." I kissed his cheek, close to his lips, and walked out with Hermione.

"What happened to your arm?" Hermione asked as we walked. I had almost forgotten all about the damn Dark Lighter. Almost, except whenever I tried moving my arm in hurt like friggin' hell. I sighed and told her all about the Dark Lighter attack, the arrow, how they're deadly to us White Lighters. We finally took the last step down, and sat at the enchanted table.

"Are the boys up yet?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she gave us plates with sausage, eggs, and bacon on it.

"Harry is, but I'm pretty sure Ron went back to sleep," Hermione said, talking a bite of her food. Mrs. Weasley let out a sigh, and started climbing the stairs, shouting at Ron. We sat there and talked, once we finished our food. It wasn't much of a conversation, only Hermione, Alexa, and Jennifer were awake enough to talk. Suzie was sitting up, trying to keep herself awake, and Sage had fallen asleep in her food. Mrs. Weasley came back downstairs a few minutes later, a sleepy looking Harry and Ron behind her. The boys both grabbed plates and started eating.

"Oh dear, should someone wake her?" Mrs. Weasley asked, pointing to Sage.

"Not unless you wanna loose a hand," I said. Sage sat up with a slight jolt, and yawned.

"I'm up, I'm up," she mumbled.

"Then you might wanna get that egg outta your hair, sissy," Alexa said with a small laugh, as she pulled the egg out. Once the boys had finished eating and everyone was ready, all of us, but Mrs. Weasley, grabbed our bags and headed outside, with Mr. Weasley in front.

"Oh, the sun isn't even all the way up yet. I don't wanna be up this early!" Sage continued to complain.

"Will you stop complaining? Jeesh!" Alexa said a little annoyed. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Oh well, sisters will be sisters.

"You still have a dream to tell me about. And a wound," Harry whispered in my ear while taking my hand. I fell back to the end of the group with him, and Ron, and told Harry about both things.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said, after I told him about the Dark Lighter attacked. We continued walking, through a forest close to the Burrow, until the sun was up all the way.

"Hey dad, dad! Where are we going?" a still sleepy Ron asked.

"Haven't the foggiest! Keep up!" Mr. Weasley replied from the front of the pack (yes, we are now werewolves in Twilight! This is the last time I decide to write at 11'o'clock at night. Hehe)

"Great," I mumbled as we ran to catch up a bit. "The one who's leading us and the only adult really, has nooooo idea where we're going. This can't possibly end in disaster." We walked on for a few more minutes, til we spotted someone up ahead. Mr. Weasley and the guy greeted each other, as we caught up.

"Sorry Amos, some of us had a bit of a sleepy start," Mr. Weasley said, looking back.

"Ron," I coughed. "And Sage."

"Everyone, this is Amos Diggory, works with me, at the Ministry". Suddenly, a tall, blonde boy jumped from a tree. "Ah, and this strapping, young, lad must be Cedric, am I right?" The two shook hands as Cedric nodded. I could tell all the girls, except me of course, were quite smitten with him. We walked by, when Amos stopped Harry.

"Merlin's Beard! You must be Harry Potter!" Amos said alarmed. I let go of Harry's hand and walked a little ahead.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied.

"Great, great pleasure it is," Amos said, shaking Harry's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you too, sir," Harry said, rejoining me and taking my hand again. We walked a little further, til we came to a hill. We started walking up the hill, further and further, and further. Will this hill ever end? I thought to myself. As we neared the top of the hill, Mr. Diggory spoke up.

"Yes it's, it's just over there," Amos said while pointing to the top of the hill. We walked up to the top, and I stopped to look around. How the heck are we gonna get to the World Cup from here? I wondered.

"Why's everyone standing around that manky old boot," Harry said. What? There's a boot? Where? I looked around, and finally decided to look where everyone was standing, or rather now kneeling, around. Oh, that boot.

"That isn't just any manky old boot, mate," Fred said.

"It's a portkey," George added. (Insert dialogue from AVPM! 'Remember a portkey can be a very harmless object like, a football, or a dolphin.' 'Professor, can like a person be portkey?' 'No that's absurd. Cause if a person were to, touch themselves, then they'd constantly be transported to different places. A person, however, can be a Horcrux.' 'Uh, what's a Horcrux?' 'I'm not even going to tell you Potter, you'll find out soon enough')

"What's a portkey?" Harry asked, looking at me. I just shrugged, and knelt down next to Jennifer. I looked around the circle, and everyone had their hand on the boot. I decided that's what we were suppose to do, so I found a spot and placed my hand there. Harry knelt down beside me, still confused.

"Ready, after three," Amos said. He started counting slowly from one. After two, Mr. Weasley noticed Harry's hand wasn't on, so he shouted at him. Harry looked around surprised, and put his hand on top of the boot, right as Amos said three. The entire group started spinning as we were plucked into the air. We spun around several times, I was surprised I hadn't let go yet.

"Let go," Mr. Weasley shouted.

"WHAT?" Hermione, Alexa, Sage, Jennifer, and I all yelled.

"Let go," he said again. Harry was the first one to get the hint, and let go immediately. The rest of us got the idea, and let go as well, falling through the air. Oh my God, why did I let go! I shouted in my mind, screaming while I fell. Suddenly, I hit the ground with a thud, near Harry. All around me, people started hitting the ground. I sat up slowly, my wound stinging. I looked around, and saw three people like, floating in the air. Of course, it was Mr. Weasley, Amos, and Cedric. Stupid heads, I thought.

"I bet that cleared your sinuses, eh?" Mr. Weasley said as he landed. I stood up slowly, and looked around. Everybody, but Harry, who was currently being helped up by Cedric, was standing up and heading up the hill. I took Harry's hand and we walked up to the top of the hill and stopped. There was a huge field, with hundreds of tents set up every few feet.

"Well kids, welcome to the Quidditch World Cup," Mr. Weasley said. We started walking through the crowds of people, looking for our tent. We walked for awhile, the Diggory's breaking off to find their own tent, til we found ours.

"Home sweet home," Mr. Weasley said, pulling the side flap open for us. We walked inside, despite its small size. I knew it had to be enchanted somehow. I was right. Inside it was massive. It would easily hold the whole lot of us. Us girls found where our bunks were, and claimed them quickly. Once we had, I plopped down on the couch, just as Harry walked in amazed. Three full years of magic, and stuff like this still surprises him?

"I love magic," he said, sitting down next to me.


	7. Sporting Events and Fear

A few hours after we were settled in our tent, we left with our bags for the pitch. Mr. Weasley had offered to buy us souvenirs of the team we were rooting for. I didn't really have a preference between Ireland or Bulgaria. Although Fred and George, and Ron for that matter, sure seemed to. Fred and George were all gung hoe for the Irish. Ron however, would _not_ stop talking about the Bulgarian seeker, Krum. I decided to choose Ireland, because anyone Ron has a man-crush on, they probably can't win the Quidditch World Cup. We continued towards the stadium, decked out in the teams we had chosen.

Once inside the stadium, we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked some more up dozens upon dozens of flights of stairs.

"Blimey, dad. How far up are we?" Fred asked, looking up at the, oh God, I dunno, _bazillion_ more flights of stairs we had yet to climb.

"Well put it this way," a very ungodly, horrifying, uncanny, (shall I go on?) voice said behind us. All of us, turned around, and met that son of a b- _HEY! Watch the language! _Ugh, fine. We met the face of that dimwitted, scruffy looking, nerfhearder (I 3 Star Wars!) Lucius Malfoy. "If it rains, you'll be the first to know."

"Father and I are in the Minister's box. On personal invitation, of Cornelius Fudge himself," his even more dimwitted, scruffier, nerfhearder of a son, Draco said. Gah, I dislike them both so much.

"Don't boast, Draco," Lucius reprimanded. Although, it sounded to me like he was saying 'Yes, that's right Draco. Boast!'

"Hey, Cradey," Draco said, directing his attention to me. I had to muster up all the self control I had to resist the urge to punch the living snot out of him. "I'm sure the Minister wouldn't mind if we happened to show up with an extra guest. And such a gorgeous guest. I'm sure you'd have a better time than hanging out with a family of blood traitors, a Mudblood, and _Potty_. Humor me, why on earth did you chose him to date? Honestly." After he finished talking, Draco broke out into a fit of laughter. I clenched my teeth together, my blood boiling. I grabbed Harry's hand in attempt to calm myself down.

"There's no need with _these_ people." Lucius spat. Harry put his other hand on my shoulder, turning me away so we could leave. Before we could get too far, Lucius snapped the snake head of his cane down on Harry's jacket, stopping us in our tracks.

"Enjoy yourselves, won't you," Lucius sneered. "While you can." He paused for a second, before taking his cane off Harry's jacket, him and Draco leaving."What do you think he means by that? 'While you can?'" Ron whispered to Hermione, Harry, and I as we went back to the stairs.

"No idea," Harry replied. "It can't be good though. Knowing Lucius." We nodded in agreement, staying quiet for the rest of our trip. We continued climbing for a few more minutes, until I thought we'd be climbing forever. Just when I was about to beg Harry to carry me, we reached a final landing, with no more stairs attached.

"Are we there yet?" Sage whined. I dunno if she'd been whining the whole way up, maybe my internal complaints had drowned out her external ones.

"Yes, Sage, we are," Alexa answered. We found ourselves at the very top of the arena. The large football like field looked like a small green oval from up here. We raced to the railing and peered over. From the ground up to where we were was filled with people. They created a mixture of red and green, avid fans supporting their team. Wow, and I'd picked my team on a whim, just like I do for the Super Bowl :).

"'A display from the team mascots will precede the match,'" Hermione read aloud from her brightly coloured, and oddly designed program.

"Oh that's always worth watching," Mr. Weasley said. "National teams bring creatures from their native land, you know, to put on a bit of a show." Oh, so it's like at high school football games when the schools bring the marching bands J I had to make some reference :D

"Ladies and gentlemen…welcome! Welcome to final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" Fudge boomed from the press box down below. There was what appeared to be a giant jumbo-tron across the field from us. An advertisement for _Bertie Bott's_ disappeared, and a scoreboard appeared, which read **Bulgaria: 0 Ireland: 0** "And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce…the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" Everyone who was decked out in red, including Ron and all the other Bulgarian supporters of our group, began cheering in approval.

"I wonder what they've brought," Mr. Weasley said leaning over the rail slightly. "Ah-ha! _Veela!"_

"Erm…what are…Feela's?" Sage asked confused. A hundred veela were now gliding onto the field. Sage's question and a bunch of ours, mine included, were answered. Veela were women…the most beautiful women I'd ever seen, and I'm in no way shape or form into girls. Except they weren't-they couldn't bloody be-human. I was so puzzled. What could make their skin shine moon-bright like that, or their gold hair fan out behind them without wind? Man, I wish my hair and skin would look like that. Music started drifting around the arena, and I stopped worrying about …well everything.

The veela started dancing, and my mind went blissfully blank. That's some serious jizz right there, to make absolutely _nothing _be going on in my mind. All that mattered was that the veela's kept dancing and I kept watching. If I dared look away or they stopped dancing, terrible things would happen. Extreeemely horrible…

The music suddenly stopped, snapping me out of my trance. Angry yells were filling the stadium; the crowd didn't want the veela to go. I was just glad that I was out of that crazy trance. I looked over at Harry, who was supporting the same confused look I assumed I had.

"Were you all…dazed and confused too? Having delusions of grandeur?" Harry asked. I nodded, thinking they must've put a trance over everyone. Or at least a lot of us.

"And now," Fudge roared again. "Kindly put your wands in the air…for the Irish National Team Mascots!" A green and gold comet shot in between Jennifer and Suze and onto the field. The comet went once around the field, back into the middle, shot straight up and burst into two comets, leaving fireworks in its wake. The comets proceeded to either side of the field and were connected by a rainbow. The fireworks from before took the form of a leprechaun and started doing an Irish jig…I 'spose. I'm not very well versed with foreign dances. The rainbow and comets connected together, forming a giant shamrock. It zoomed over the crowd, dropping little coins as it did. I squinted as the shamrock flew over us, realizing there were thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests composing the shamrock. Ahhh…legit leprechauns. Nice. We all picked up several of the coins, examining them with great curiosity. No, they can't be…

"_CHOCOLATE!" _Sage said with an excited gasp. She sounded like a little kid that had just been told her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Claus. She's great for comedic relief, isn't she? Indeed, the little coins were chocolate coins. I unwrapped mine and plopped it in my mouth, relishing at how good it was.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome-the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you- Dimitrov!" A scarlet figure on broom zoomed onto the field, receiving and uproar of applause. "Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov!" Five more scarlet figures burst onto the scene, following one another in a lap around the field. "And finally…_KRUM!"_

"That's him! THAT'S HIM!" Ron shouted, almost as giddy as Sage just had when she realized the coins were chocolate, following the last figure with his finger. Krum's face was suddenly plastered on the jumbo-tron, showing a live action feed of him flying, a full 360° shot of him in his Bulgarian robes, and his stats. The already loud crowd exploded with applause. I was surprised mothers weren't throwing their children onto the field. Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He kinda looked like an over grown bird of prey. I'll give it to him, and Ron, he was sorta good looking. But I have Harry, what else could I want?

"And now, please greet-the Irish National Quidditch Team! Presenting-Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigely! And Lynch!" Seven green blurs swept onto the field as Fred and George began jumping, pointing to and naming the people Fudge had just called off. The image of Krum was swept of the screen, receiving unpleasant boo's from Ron, and was replaced with a live feed of Lynch, a 360° shot of him, and his stats. He too was tall, had a square face and jaw, and short dirty blonde hair.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!" A small and skinny wizard completely bald with a wild mustache strode onto the field. He wore pure gold robes to match the stadium, a silver whistle hanging in his mouth. He jumped onto his broom and kicked open the crate next to him, releasing the Snitch, two Bludgers, and the Quaffle. He rose into the air, blowing harshly on his whistle.

"Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey're OFF!" Fudge roared. I leaned on the railing, laying my head on Harry's shoulder. The rest of the game was a blur. Not because they players were flying so incredibly fast. I'm not really one for sports. I just kinda stood there, leaning on Harry and watching the game go on in a blur. But hey, if you decide to sit me in front of a few marching bands, I'm there.

"_Look at Lynch!"_ Harry yelled suddenly. I sat up suddenly, becoming more aware of my surroundings and what was going on. I looked across the field to where Harry was pointing frantically and saw the Irish seeker in a nose dive. "He's seen the Snitch! He's seen it! Look at him go!"

Half the crowd realized what was happening; the Irish supporters rose in a great wave of green, screaming their bloody heads off for their seeker. Krum, despite how intellectually deprived he seemed to me, realized what Lynch had seen and began diving, trying to catch up.

"They're going to crash!" I yelled instinctively, seeing how close the seekers were coming to the ground.

"No they're not!" Ron roared.

"Lynch is!" Harry yelled. Sadly…he was right. Not saying that Harry being right is a bad thing, but incase of it endangering the seeker of the team I wanted to win, then yes, it was a bad thing. Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately trampled by a horde of angry veela.

"But…where's the Snitch? OÙ EST LA SNITCH!" Sage shouted. Ya…bet you didn't know she knew French. Well, she does. Cause I said so J.

"He's got it…Krum! He got it, it's all over!" Harry shouted excitedly. See…he had been the dumb one, out of the two of us, who chosen Bulgaria. I think Ron said something about disowning Harry as his friend if he didn't support Bulgaria as well.

Krum, his red robes shinning with blood from his nose…I had no idea when he'd been beaten down and started bleeding. Like I said, I hadn't paid much attention until a few seconds ago. But anyways, Krum was rising gently into the air, his fist held high, the Snitch in his hand.

The scoreboard was flashing the results across the crowd wildly. **Bulgaria: 160 Ireland: 170. **Whoa whoa whoa, hold up! Was I reading that correctly? The rest of the arena seemed to realize the same thing I had, practically at the same time. The shouts from the Bulgarian supporters quieted, quickly being replaced by Ireland supporters.

"IRELAND WINS!" Fudge roared still taken aback from the sudden change. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH, BUT IRELAND WINS! Good Lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!" The Irish took a victory lap around the field and headed up to top box to collect their trophy. Fudge handed their team captain ginormous golden cup, the Irish shouting and jumping frantically. The arena began to empty slowly, people still talking frantically about the game.

We settled into our tent still talking about the match. I flopped down on the couch next to Harry who wrapped his arm around my waist. Jennifer smiled at me, mouthing 'lover boy' as she sat next to me. It seemed like our tent was in the middle of crazy Irish fans. They were up for_ever_ partying. Mr. Weasley agreed to let us stay up for a little longer until the loudmouths quieted down. Ya, at that rate I'm sure we'd be up for an eternity. We were soon arguing over certain aspects of the game. It was Bulgarian supporter against Ireland, all over again. I actually partook in some of the conversation, but soon was way too tired to continue. I leaned my head on Harry's shoulder and was soon asleep.

"Stephanie, come on wake up," Harry said, shaking me slightly. I opened my eyes wearily looking around. "Mr. Weasley says its time for bed. Ginny fell asleep in her hot coco," Harry added with a laugh, pointing over his shoulder.

"There was hot chocolate?" I asked sleepily. Harry laughed and helped me to stand up on my feet. We kissed goodnight and went to our respective sides of the tent. I changed into my pjs and crawled into bed, quickly falling back asleep.

"Guys, come on, get up! I'm not playing with you! Stephanie, Susanne, Sage, come _on!"_ I faintly heard someone shouting at me, but I couldn't really tell who. I opened my eyes while sitting up slowly. I faintly saw Hermione and Alexa trying to wake us up.

"Stephanie!" Hermione said, dragging me out of bed.

"What…what's going on?" I yawned, squinting my eyes.

"I'm not sure. Mr. Weasley just ran in here trying to wake us up frantically. He says we have to leave. Now. Get on a jacket and go outside. _Quickly!_" I jumped back slightly, pulling on a jacket and some shoes. I walked into the living room of the tent, finally realizing that something was wrong. When I had gone to sleep, both times, people were singing and laughing joyfully. But now, people were screaming and running about, scared. I looked across the field and saw tents on fire everywhere. People were running everywhere frantically; no one was running in an exact direction. There were, however, a group of wizards in black robes with creepy masks on marching in a group together. They were flinging people in the air and setting tents on fire, all while chanting some creepy chant. I soon realized that all of our group, or at least most of us, were now standing outside the tent near me.

"Get into the woods!" I heard Mr. Weasley shout at us from the tent. "Get back to the portkey everyone, and _stay together!_ Fred, George! Ginny is your responsibility. Bill, Charlie, Percy, come with me!" The four of them took off in the opposite direction, leaving all of us underage kids alone. In an instant, I found Harry standing next to me gripping my hand.

"What's going on?" he asked wide-eyed.

"I-I don't know," I answered, hearing someone shriek in the distance.

"Guys come on!" Alexa said, grabbing my other hand and pulling us to catch up with the rest of our group. We quickly rejoined them, linking arms to keep us from getting separated. Just when we thought everyone was there and we were about to start moving to the woods, a stream of people came running by between Harry and I. I tried to cling on to him for my life and pull him closer to me, but was suddenly pulled in the opposite direction by our group. I felt his hand slip from mine and lost him in the crowd.

"Harry? HARRY!" I shouted, stretching my arm out more as if to find his hand again.

"Stephanie!" I heard Harry yell just beyond the wall of people. I watched him disappear in the sea of people as I continued to be pulled in the opposite direction, his desperate shouts soon becoming lost in the commotion.

"Alexa! Alexa, we have to go back! We lost Harry!" I tried to shout, instead finding nothing coming out. My heart continued beating faster and faster as we ran away. I couldn't help imagining seeing those masked men flinging Harry in the air. Or possibly, seeing him lying on the ground unconscious or…or… I couldn't even go as far to even think that. My head began swirling and my breathing became more shallow until I blacked out fully.

The next thing I remember was us walking slowly back through the woods. It was darker now than it had been, the fires having all been extinguished. I had told Ron and Hermione about losing Harry, seeing their immediate reactions of fear. We told the others we'd meet them at home and turned around to search for Harry on our own. My boyfriend and I had been separated for I don't know how bloody long and I had no idea what happened to him. Or if he was even alright. We continued to walk around, searing through the debris and demolished tents. No dead bodies, thankfully.

I stopped suddenly when a jet of green light shot into the air suddenly. I looked at in, confused, wondering if it could possibly be Harry signaling for help. The jet suddenly started shifting, taking the form of a skull with a snake through its mouth. I heard the others gasp behind me, causing me to look at them.

"Stephanie!" Hermione said suddenly, running up and grabbing my arm. "Do you realize what that is?" I looked into her scared eyes, obviously missing something.

"It's the Dark Mark," Ron clarified a bit shaky. Oh, okay. Cause that makes much more sense! I wasn't raised by wizards and I'm not incredibly smart, so I don't know the 'norm' for adolescent wizards these days.

"It's _his _mark!" Hermione added. Oh…that made much more sense. Voldemort. But…he wasn't back. He couldn't come back, could he? But what was some yahoo doing sending Voldemort's symbol into the air?

"Come on, we have to find Harry." We turned our attention back to finding Harry and continued on, calling his name.

"Harry? Harry, where are you?" I shouted, looking all around as I walked. I spotted a figure standing up not too far away from me. I squinted, trying to see if I knew them. Sure enough, I could see round glasses and some black messy hair.

"Hey guys. Guys! I think I found Harry! _Harry_!" I shouted, running toward them. They turned around, clearly recognizing their name, and noticed who was calling them. I ran up to him and flung my arms around him, feeling my body relax. I heard Hermione and Ron come up behind me, voicing their own happiness in recovering our friend.

Harry suddenly shot his hand to his scar, grunting in discomfort. I didn't have to ask him what was wrong, when a bunch of loud snaps erupted around us.

"_STUPEFY!" _A dozen or so of loud voices shouted. Hermione and I squealed in fear, dropping down onto the ground as Harry and Ron pulled us with them. I clutched onto Harry's side as the people around us fired spells at us.

"Stop, stop, STOP!" Mr. Weasley broke in, stopping the wizards in their tracks. "That's my son! Harry, Ron, Hermione, Stephanie! Are you alright?"

"We came back for Harry," Ron stated.

"_Which of you conjured it_?" A man asked wildly, pointing his wand at us as we stood up.

"Crouch, you can't possibly-" Mr. Weasley started.

"Do not lie! You've been spotted at the scene of the crime!" Mr. Crouch said, pointing his wand at each of us.

"What crime?" Harry asked confused."It's the Dark Mark, Harry," I said like I'd known all along. "It's…_Voldemort's_…mark." I'd turned my head and whispered his name in Harry's ear, knowing everyone else would freak out at hearing his name.

"Voldemort?" Harry repeated. _He_ obviously didn't care if people heard him saying his name. They just had to get over it, I guess. "Those wizards tonight, in the masks. They're his too, aren't they? His followers?"

"Death Eaters," Mr. Weasley replied swallowing. Mr. Crouch motioned to the other wizards, I guess figuring that we hadn't done it.

"Wait!" Harry said, stepping forward. "There was a man. There!" The wizards looked in the direction he pointed and ran off.

"A man, Harry. Who?" Mr. Weasley asked bewildered.

"I dunno. I…I didn't see his face."


	8. Secrets don't make friends

On September 1st, a week after the events of the World Cup, we found ourselves boarding the gleaming Hogwarts Express.

"It was good to meet you two," Charlie said to Harry and I as we stepped onto the train. "I might be seeing you all sooner than you think.

"Why?" Ron asked turning back around.

"You'll see," Charlie beamed. "Don't tell Percy I mentioned it…it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it.'"

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," Bill said with a slight frown, looking up at the train wistfully.

"_Why?"_ Ron said getting impatient.

"You're going to have an interesting year," Bill said, his eyes twinkling. "I might even get some time off from Gringotts to come and watch a bit of it."

"A bit of _what?_" Ron and I said together, Ron a bit more irritable than I. Before another word could be said, the whistle blew, the train starting to move slowly.

"Oh, have fun!" Mrs. Weasley called, joining the boys to bade us goodbye. "I'd invite you for Christmas, but…well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with…one thing and another."

"What do you three know that we don't? Tell us before the train really gets going!" Ron called.

"You'll find out soon enough. I'm sure Dumbledore will tell you this evening," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Well ya, they're coming this evening. Or at least that's what I heard last," Bill clarified.

"Yes. It's going to be very exciting-mind you. I'm very glad they've changed the rules-"

"WHAT RULES?" Harry, Ron, Hermione and I said together, for different reasons, mind you.

"Oh, have fun!" Mrs. Weasley called again. "Be safe! Don't do anything stupid!"

"Wait! What's going on at school? Who's coming?_ LET US KNOW NOW_!" Ron shouted as Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie disappeared into the distance. Harry dragged Ron, who was still trying to get answers out of his long gone mother, behind us as we made our way to find a compartment.

"What could be going on this year at school? What could they possibly be talking about?" Ron continued.

"I don't know and I don't care," I retorted sarcastically. "All I care about is when the trolley is coming by." I sat down near the window next to Harry, Ron and Hermione across from us.

"Well ya, me too. But come on. I know you and I know you care about what's going on at school. Don't act like this secret's nothing."

"Yes, I do care. But I'm not going to obsess over it." Ron opened his mouth to say more, but was cut short by Hermione.

"Shh! Listen!" Hermione whispered, pressing her finger to her lips and pointing to the compartment near ours.

"…Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually _learn_ them, not just the defense rubbish we do…" I got up quietly and shut the door, not so quietly, blocking out Draco's dumb voice.

"Pssh, so he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he? I wish he would have gone. Then we wouldn't have to put up with his obnoxious butt everyday," I said a bit peeved, sitting back down by Harry.

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" Harry asked, looking at me a bit confused.

"Yes," Hermione added stiffly, "and it's got a horribly reputation. According to _An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe,_ it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

"And as we all heard, that's exactly why he wanted to go. So he could learn how to steal candy from babies and kick puppies…with magic," I said sarcastically. There was a moment of silence, as everyone looked at me oddly. "What?"

"You spend too much time with Sage," Ron said plainly. The four of us broke out into a small fit of laughter, stopping suddenly when the door opened.

"Oh, hello, Cradey," Draco said with a smirk. "I heard your lustrous laughter and thought I'd come check it out. Although, I didn't expect to find you in such a…dingy compartment." He walked in and sat himself in between Harry and I, pushing the two of us apart.

"Why are you suddenly more obnoxious than even once Harry and I start dating?" I asked trying to scoot away from Draco.

"Seriously, Malfoy. You need to get out of here and get away from my girlfriend," Harry said angrily. My face prickled with heat slightly as Harry stuck up for me. For us. If Draco wasn't such a big, obnoxious, git, his spark of defense would have would have been the only thing left on my mind. Sadly, Draco was that big, obnoxious, git.

"I'm definitely going to enter," Draco said wrapping his arm around my shoulder, bringing me back to what was happening in the here and now. "You should too, Cradey. If one of us is Champion, then all the better. What about you, Weasley. Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved as well, you know."

"What are you talking about?" Ron snapped.

"_Are you going to enter?_" Draco repeated. "I suppose _you_ will, Potter? You never miss a chance to show off, do you? Even after Cradey leaves you for me."

"I'd _never_ leave Harry," I said angrily. "Especially _not_ for you."

"Either explain what you're on about or go away, Malfoy. Stop agitating Harry and Stephanie unless you plan to find out how alike her and Sage are," Hermione said trying to keep her head.

"Don't tell me you don't _know_?" Draco said delightedly, a gleeful smile spreading across his pale face. "You've got a father and brother at the Ministry and you don't even _know?_ My God, _my_ father told me about it ages ago…heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry…Maybe your father's too junior to know about it, Weasley…yes…they probably don't talk about important stuff in front of him."

"Get out of here, Draco," I said, shrugging out of his arm and pushing him off the seat. "You don't know anymore than we do. So stop playing us like you're a big shot." Draco smirked once more before exiting and heading off towards his own compartment. I stood up again and shut the door.

"D'you really think he's playing?" Harry asked as I sat down next to him, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"No," I said honestly. "Let's face it, he probably knows whatever this big secret is. He's just trying to push our buttons." We settled into our seats, Hermione pulling out the day's _Daily Prophet_, Ron pulling out his _Chudley Cannons _book, and I my iPod. I put one headphone in and snuggled into Harry's shoulder.

Hours later, my original question was answered as we heard the trolley coming down the isle. Harry, Ron, and I got up to get money for some delicious food.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" the frail lady asked as she peaked her head into our door, which had somehow opened between now and our meeting with Draco.

"Packet of droobles and a licorice wand," Ron said first, who had practically run to be first. He paid for his food and returned to his seat.

"What d'you want? I'll pay," Harry said turning to me.

"It's alright, I got it," I said looking at the candy choices.

"Come on, my treat," Harry protested again. I bit on my bottom lip, smiling slightly as heat rose into my cheeks.

"Thanks, Harry. Uhm…some Every Flavour Beans and three Chocolate Frogs," I said still blushing.

"Two pumpkin pasties please," came a voice from the other side the trolley. I looked up from my teenage dream to see a girl with long black hair. I knew her only from Alexa; they were in the same year and house. Her name was Cho Chang. Her two girlfriends who were flanking her looked up at Harry and giggled, tapping her on the shoulder. She too looked up and giggled like a school girl. My stomach started churning slightly, causing me to feel a little queasy.

"Hi Harry," Cho said in a very obvious flirty tone.

"Oh, hey…Cho, isn't it? Harry asked, looking up and handing me my candy.

"Yes. Yes it is," Cho said breathlessly. The trolley lady handed Cho her pasties and moved passed us. "It was wonderful to see you."

"Erm…ya. You too," Harry said plainly, wrapping his arm around my waist and walking back inside. I closed my eyes suddenly, feeling my head rush.

"You alright, Steph?" Hermione asked, looking up from the _Daily Prophet_. I shrugged, my eyes still closed, as I sat down by Harry. "Eat some chocolate." I nodded unwrapping a chocolate frog and took a bite. I was overcome with warmth spreading through my body, chasing away the nausea.

"Better?" Harry asked looking at my eyes.

"Ya. Much." Why had I felt so sick all of a sudden. It all started when that flirty walking carpet showed up and started acting all cutesy wootsy towards Harry…

_Somebody's jealous!_

Not you again. No, I'm not jealous! Why would I be jealous? _I'm_ the one who has Harry.

_Exactly, but you don't like it that other girls are also interested in him too. And they don't seem to respect the fact that he already has a girlfriend._

Uh…duh! He's _my_ boyfriend. Of course I'd be jealous of girls hitting on him.

_But all that matters is if Harry stays true to you. Which he did._

You're right. Harry's such a sweet boy (: , I thought, taking another bite of my frog.

"This is just insane," Hermione said, lowering her paper. The front, 3rd, 4th, and 8th pages were all about the Death Eaters' strange appearance at the World Cup, a picture of the Dark Mark on the front. "Wasn't there any security, or-"

"Loads, according to dad," Ron said, his mouth full of licorice. "That's what's got them worried so much. Happened right under their noses."

"This is just crazy. That Death Eaters are even attacking at all. I mean, I'd understand if it happened when he was in power and all, but Voldemort can't come back, can he?" I asked, ignoring Ron's outburst at saying his name. I suddenly remembered Harry's dream that he mentioned earlier. I looked at him, wondering if he'd thought of the same thing.

"That's what I would think, but-" Hermione stopped, looking up and noticing the look Harry and I were sharing.

"There's something I haven't told you guys yet," Harry said to Ron and Hermione. "I've been having dreams. Waking up with my scar hurting." Both Ron and Hermione sported the same reactions as Harry told all about his dream.

"But…he wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who? I mean…last time your scar kept hurting, he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?" Ron said after Harry finished telling them about his dream.

"I'm sure he wasn't anywhere near where I was. I had the same dream both at Privet Drive _and _the Burrow," Harry said.

"It was only a dream, right?" Hermione said, a little frightened.

"Yeah…but was it though?" Harry asked, turning to look at me for a second before continuing to look out the window. "It's weird…isn't it? My scar hurts, and just a few days later the Death Eaters are on the march, Voldemort's sign up in the air."

"Don't. Say. His. Name!" Ron hissed through gritted teeth.

"And remember what Professor Trelawney said? At the end of last year?" Harry continued, ignoring Ron just as I had.

"Oh Harry, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says, are you?" Hermione said disapprovingly.

"You weren't there. You didn't hear her. This time was different. She was…in a trance. A real one," Harry explained.

"He's right. It was really creepy," I said, shuddering slightly at the memory. "She…she said the Dark Lord would rise again…" I stopped, staring off into the distance. I had actually forgotten about the last part, but all the talking about it suddenly made me remember that night.

We continued to sit in silence; a silence that soon become awkward. Hermione went back to reading the paper, Ron his book, and Harry and I listened to my iPod. Once we had changed into our robes and the train stopped, we gathered our bags and headed to the carriages that would take us up to the school.

The four of us clambered into a carriage and rode off as the sun began to set. As we came closer and closer to the school, I became more aware of a very small, miniscule object in the distance coming closer.

"Clear the runway!" Hagrid shouted. We happened to be on the bridge, making our way towards the school, when we heard Hagrid shouting from way down below. The entire company on the bridge practically stopped moving and crowded to the edge to see what was going on. Lucky for us we were right on the edge and could see perfectly once people started crowding behind me.

"Clear the runway!" Hagrid shouted again. The wind began to pick up around us. At first I thought a storm was coming in, but the sky was clear.

"Look!" a fourth year Hufflepuff near us said, pointing into they sky. A hundred or more pairs of eyes shot up into the sky. A giant Cinderella styled carriage was coming towards the school, being led by seven large, gorgeous winged horses. The horses and carriage came hurdling down onto the ground, nearly crashing into Hagrid.

"Well, there's something you don't see everyday," Fred and George said behind us. Everyone was talking and questioning what was going on. Well…this must be whoever Bill, Charlie, and Mrs. Weasley were talking about. Who they were exactly and why they were here? Still dunno.

The water began to ripple down on the lake. Some people started shouting and saying stuff about the Giant Squid. A long wooden post broke the surface, rising out of the water. I soon realized the post was a mast of a ship. More water around the mast began rippling, until a full ship was emerging from the water.

"Alright, come on, come on. Let's keep moving," some head boy shouted over the noise, ushering us inside. There was a simultaneous groan through the group as we slowly made our way into the school.

"Now that we're all settled in and sorted," Dumbledore addressed the school once we were all seated. "I'd like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well. Hogwarts has been chosen…" Filch had run up the middle of the Great Hall, very comically, receiving many not so subtle laughs and giggles. The two spoke very hushed, pointing to the doors every so often. Dumbledore said something final, sending Filch to run back down and out.

"Hogwarts," Dumbledore continued on, "has been chosen to host a very legendary event. The Triwizard Tournament." Dumbledore paused as the majority of the school ooohed and began talking to each other excitedly. Well…I'm glad everyone else knows what's going on. I however…got no clue. "For those of you who don't know," oh yes, please enlighten me Dumbleydore, " the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single student will be chosen to compete. Let me be clear. If chosen, you stand alone, and trust me when I say these contests will not be for the faint hearted. But more of that later. Please join me and welcoming, the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and their headmistress, Madam Maxime!"

The doors to the Great Hall burst open causing everyone to turn around. Standing in the doorway was a group of 20 or so girls. They had blue kitten heels, white tights, a blue silky dress that came just below their knees, and a blue silky cropped cape (can't really explain it). Their silky hair was pulled into a side pony tale and a blue hat delicately placed on the side of their heads. They started walking in at a steady pace, almost looking like they were about to put on a show. They stopped about halfway down the hall, sighing and gesturing to the people on their immediate left, otherwise known as the Gryffindor table. The boys, and some girls (hey, Hogwarts is an open school. We're not just boy + girl couples), eyes almost jumped out of their faces. The girls flashed amazing smiles and continued on their merry way, stopping once more. They broke off into a jazz run (very graceful, ya know (: ) and into a series of frilly ballet moves, hitting their final pose. Thunderous applause filled the Hall, mostly from the guys. I looked to my left to see Ron standing on his seat clapping madly, a tiny hint of drool on his mouth. Harry was about to stand up to, but stopped short when he saw the unhappy look on my face. He sat back down slowly, an apologetic look on his face.

"And now, our friends from the north," Dumbledore said, leaving the side of who I assumed was the Headmistress, Madam Maxime. She was a very _very _tall woman with brown pixie hair. "Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and their headmaster Igor Karkaroff." The whole school turned their heads to see who these 'proud sons' were in excitement. A group of 20 or so men wearing brown shirts and pants came marching in, staffs in their hands. They suddenly began sprinting down the middle, doing a series of wicked flips and rolls and acrobatic stunts. Someone conjured a dragon out of fire and it zoomed around the Hall. Students started clapping until they saw two men walking behind the others. One, whom I assumed was Karkaroff, wore a white over coat and the other was…

"Blimey, it's him!" Ron said wide eyed in surprise. "Viktor Krum!" Whoa, whoa, whoa! He's still in _school_? But he's like…a legit Quidditch player. Dumbledore greeted Karkaroff and offered him and Madam Maxime seats at the head table. The Beauxbatons girls went and sat at the Ravenclaw table and the Durmstrang boys at the Slytherin.

A few came out from the side carrying a large object. It was taller than Dumbledore even when they set it down next to him. He placed his hand on it looking at it meaningfully.

"I'd like to say a few words. Eternal Glory. That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do this, the student must survive three tasks. Three, _extremely dangerous_, tasks," Dumbledore addressed the school. A few feet up the table, I could hear Fred and George mutter 'wicked'. "That is why the Ministry has seemed fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this, we have the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Mr. Bartimus Crouch." A man began moving from behind the head table towards Dumbledore. I suddenly realized he was the man who accused Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I of conjuring the Dark Mark.

Lightening from a storm that had just recently appeared rippled through the night, several claps of loud thunder following. Another bolt flashed across the sky, the thunder getting mixed in with the crumbling of a building. People suddenly realized that the roof was about to collapse and began screaming and taking cover. Can Hogwarts even fall apart? I asked myself as Harry placed his arm over my shoulders, ready to protect me from falling debris.

There was another flash of light, the crumbling ceasing down. Everyone looked up at a wizard standing off to the side, wand in hand pointed at the sky.

"It's Mad-Eye Moody," Ron whispered.

"Alastor Moody, the auror?" Hermione asked from across the table.

"Auror?" I asked turning to face the others.

"Dark wizard catcher. Half the cells in Azkaban are filled thanks to him," Ron began to clarify. "He's suppose to be as mad as a hatter these days." Moody made his way to Dumbledore and the two greeted each other.

"Stupid ceiling," he grumbled. Now that he was in the light I could get a better look at him, a chill traveling down my spine. He looked like he'd been living in the wilderness for quite some time. His balding blonde hair was messed up. His face was composed partially of skin, most of it being scars and missing chunks. His left eye was stuck on with an eye patch pretty much. I'm not even sure it was his real eye. It was at least half an inch larger and looked around independently from his other. He limped off to the other side of the Hall with the aide of his staff. He pulled out a flask and took a long swig from it, shaking his like he was adjusting the liquid in his head.

"What's that he's drinking d'you suppose?" Seamus asked.

"I dunno, but I don't think it's Pumpkin Juice," Harry said. Ya, thanks Captain Obvious…I'm not that nice, am I? Ah well.

"After due consideration," Crouch said, bringing the attention back to him. "The Ministry has concluded that _no_ student under the age of 17 should be allowed to put forth their name to enter the Triwizard Tournament." The majority of the school broke out into fits of complaint. I could clearly hear Sage from the other side of the Hufflepuff table complaining and possibly swearing loudly. She was sitting by Cedric who looked like he was trying to stifle his laughter. I could also clearly hear Fred and George shouting 'RUBBISH' at the top of their lungs.

"_**SILENCE!" **_Dumbledore broke in, quieting the school down in record time. Dumbledore waved his hand, the box next to him disappearing like liquid. In its place was a large cup made out of what looked like old petrified wood. A giant blue flam began flickering above it.

"The Goblet of Fire," Dumbledore said looking into the flame. "Anyone wishing to submit themselves into the Tournament, need only write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it into the flame before this hour Sunday night. Do not do so lightly. If chosen, there's no turning back. From this moment, the Triwizard Tournament has begun. Now, off to bed. Pip-pip."


	9. New Teaching Methods

Throughout the first few days of classes, everyone had been enthusing over Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. So we were more than eager to get in there Thursday after lunch. The Gryffindors and Slytherins filed into the room, everyone bubbling with eagerness. Over the years, I've come to notice each teacher has a different style when it comes to decorating. Quierll's was dark, musty, and smelled highly of garlic. Lockhart's was filled with millions upon millions of pictures of himself. Lupin's was pretty normal for a classroom, strange animals in jars every so often.

Moody had gone with a Lupin-like style. The front desk was filled with bags and creatures in jars and bins.

We took our seats, Harry and I next to each other of course, waiting with anticipation. The door shut suddenly causing us all to look back quickly. When we turned back around we saw Moody standing in front of a small chalk board. Whoa! When the bloody hell did he get there? He picked up a piece of chalk and scribbled _Moody_ on it.

"Alastor Moody," he grumbled, facing the class again. "Ex-auror. Ministry malcontent, and you're new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I am here because Dumbledore asked me to. End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" He looked around the class, his magical eye zooming around. The class sat quietly not responding.

"When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach," he continued turning back to the chalkboard. "Now, who can tell me, how many Unforgivable Curses they are?"

Unforgivable Curses? I guess it'll come as no surprise that Alexa hadn't told me anything about them four year ago when I was scared and angry at everyone. I looked over at Harry who seemed just as in the dark as I was. Maybe these curses were really terrible, and that's why Alexa hadn't said anything. Maybe she herself, as a twelve year old, hadn't known anything about them either.

"Th-three, sir," Hermione chocked out.

"And they are so named?"

"Cause they are unforgivable." Well _duh_. I could've figured that one out on my own. "The use of any one of them…"

"Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban! Correct. Now, they Ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do, but I say different! You need to know what you're up against, you need to be prepared…you _need _to find a different place to put your chewing gum besides the underside of your desk, Mr. Finnigan!" The entire class looked back at a wide eyed Seamus. Whoa, he's not even facing the class (Moody, that is).

"Ah, now way. The old codger can see outta the back of his head," I barely heard Seamus whisper to Dean next to him.

"And hear across class rooms!" Moody shouted, turning around and hurtling an eraser at him. I turned back around stifling a laugh in fear that Moody's magical eye would do something wicked scary, like shoot a laser at me or something. "Now, which curse shall we see first? Weasley!"

"Y-yes?" Ron squeaked from the table in front of us.

"Stand!" Ron stood up slowly, shaking. "Give us a curse."

"Well…m-my dad did tell me about one. Th-the Imperius Curse."

"Ah your father would know all about that," Moody said with a nod. "Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." Moody limped back to the front of the room, allowing Ron to sit down quickly. Erm…what exactly are we gonna see? He's not actually gonna _show _us these curses, is he? _Demonstrate_ them? In front of our class? He's a lot madder that I thought. He pulled out an insect from a jar, a canclo to be exact, in the front of the room and held it in his hand.

"Engrogio," he mumbled, the bug instantly growing larger. "Imperio!" He moved his wand, the bug following it in mid-air. He started making it move all across the room and began antagonizing the students. He made it crawl over Parvati Patil's shoulders and landed it on top of Ron's face. Ron freaked out until he changed victims and chose me. It started moving up on my arm and close to my neck. Now, I'm not afraid of bugs or insects really, but I _hate _the feeling of anything crawling around my arms and neck (except Harry's hand xP. Ohhh that's bad :B) I squealed girlishly, shrugging my shoulders up. Malfoy, that stupid prick, and his goonies began laughing at my misfortunes.

"Think that's funny, do you? Don't worry, she's completely harmless. But when she bites…she's lethal," Moody cackled. Meeeeeeeeh that's exactly what I want to hear to make me feel better. Moody suddenly sent the creature straight onto Malfoy's face. The Gryffindors began cheering and clapping loudly. Ohhh thank dead God! (Starship reference, sorry :3)

"Talented, isn't she? What shall I have her do next?" Moody laughed. He flicked his wand at the window quickly, the insect following of course. "Jump out the window? Drown herself?" He lowered her slowly until the insect was hovering only centimeters, millimeters even, above a small bucket of water. The entire class was watching with great intent. He brought the insect back to his hand along with the classes gaze.

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under influence of the Imperius Curse. But here's the rub. How do we sort out the liars? Another, another," Moody said looking around at the class. One by one, a dozen hands slowly rose into the air.

"Longbottom, isn't it? Professor Sprout (PAMONA!) tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology," Moody said to Neville (obviously). He nodded slightly before continuing.

"There's the uhm…the Cruciatus C-curse," Neville said, slightly unsure of himself.

"Correct! Come…come come," Moody said, beckoning Neville to the desk and placing the creature onto the desk. "Particularly nasty this one. The torture curse. Crucio!" The creature instantly began shrieking in pain writhing in pain on the table. I flinched with just about every other girl in the room. That poor poor creature! I've never been tortured personally, but I've seen my fair share of Saw movies. Like…all of them. So take every torture and painful scene in those movies, add them together, and you might have half of what the animal was feeling. It's crying grew louder and more depressed. I closed my eyes wishing it would stop. I felt a warm hand on mine causing me to look up.

"You okay?" Harry asked me quietly, looking me in the eye. I shook my head slowly, looking from him back down.

"No. I-it's awful," I replied quietly.

"Stop! Can't you see it's hurting him? _Stop_!" Hermione burst out. I looked up to the front quickly wondering what was happening. Neville was standing with his back to me and the class looking down at the creature in pain. Despite the fact I couldn't see his face, I had a feeling it was bunched up in emotional pain. Moody, on the other hand, had a look of pure pleasure on his face, like he _enjoyed _torturing.

He suddenly registered Hermione's words, looked from the insect to Neville, and released the curse. Neville sat back down slowly, still shaken up. I exhaled slowly, relieved the poor animal wasn't being tortured anymore., Moody picked up the insect and lied it down on Hermione's desk.

"Would you care to give us the last Unforgivable Curse, Miss Granger?" Moody said, almost tauntingly. Tears in her eyes, Hermione bit her lip and shook her head 'no'.

"No? Well then…_Avada Kedavra!_" I jumped back at the ferocity in Moody's voice as a flash of green light shot from his wand and hitting the creature, causing it to fall onto Hermione's desk…dead. I swallowed, my hand shaking in Harry's. Harry! I looked over at him an found him staring at the dead creature.

"The Killing Curse," Moody continued, sounding distant from me. "Only one person has known to survived it…and he's sitting in this room." I looked at Harry who was still looking at the canclo on Hermione's desk and still holding my hand, more for his sake than mine though. We both looked up as Moody had mad his way to the front of our desk, standing and looking down on Harry. He pulled out his flask and took a swig just the way he had before.

The bell signaling the end of our class suddenly rang. Our whole class sat in an awkward silence.

"Well…don't you all have somewhere else to be?" Moody grumbled snapping us all out of our transfixed state. "Don't just sit here like a bunch of buffoons. Go!" Many students jumped out of their seats, gathering their stuff quickly and leaving just as fast. Moody limped back to his desk leaving Harry and I. I stood up slowly, pulling Harry with me.

"Brilliant, isn't he?" Ron gushed as we were walking out the door. "Completely demented, of course. Terrifying to be in the same room as him, but he's really been there, y'know? He's looked evil in the eye."

"There's a reason those curses are Unforgivable Ron. To perform them in front of a classroom. I mean, did you see Neville's face-" Hermione started until Harry and I hit her lightly. Standing at the window, looking out across the grounds, was Neville himself looking quite gloom.

"Neville? You alright?" I asked quietly, placing my hand on his shoulder. He stayed quiet, still looking out the window.

"You alright, son?" Moody grumbled, shoving me out of the way and knocking me into Harry. "Come on, son. We'll have a cup of tea. I want to show you something." He turned back around, Harry pulling me out of his path, Neville following him after a second of hesitation.

"Come on, we don't wanna miss dinner," Ron said already descending the stairs. Of course. He's thinking of food at a time like this.

Saturday finally rolled around, relieving us with our first weekend since we'd been back. Hermione, being Hermione, had rushed off to the library after breakfast to get started on our arithmancy and potions essays even though they weren't due for another week. Ron had decided that he'd spend his day buy hopelessly gawking at the older students as they entered into the Tournament before tonight.

"Well, what shall you and I get up to today?" Harry asked, turning to me after the other two had left.

"Well…I dunno exactly. We could always get a group together and play a game of red rover," I suggested.

"Actually," Harry said, taking my hands and pulling me closer to him. "I was thinking about something that you and I could do. Just, you and I."

"Oh," I said realizing what he meant. "You mean like a…a date?"

"Sure, if you want to call it that. Then yes, a date," Harry said with a smile. I bit my bottom lip and looked down before looking back up.

"So, what exactly did you have in mind for our 'date?" I asked smiling.

"Well, I dunno. We could go for a simple walk, sit under a tree by the lake. There's not much to do on the grounds, and it's not a Hogsmede weekend. I mean, if you don't find it lame just sitting together and taking in each others company," he said.

"No, not at all. As long as I'm with you, I'm happy," I said with a smile. Harry smiled too and pulled me into a hug. Did that sound to sappy? I thought as we hugged. I mean, I like him, obviously, but…could that have been a little too much?

"I brought some of the board games I got for my last birthday. They're up in my trunk if you wanna play some," I suggested, hoping to diffuse the embarrassment I suddenly felt. Harry agreed to my suggestion and waited downstairs while I went up to fetch the games. We wouldn't want another mishap like we did last year, now would me.

I guess I should explain, shouldn't I?

At one point last year, when Harry was still trying to 'whoo' me, he got the bright idea to leave me a cute surprise and decorate my bed with sweets and flowers. Well, no one had told us that the Founders apparently hadn't trusted the male students around the girls' sleeping areas. Harry took two steps up the stairs to the girls dormitory before the stairs flattened beneath him and sent him sliding back down the Common Room on his arse. Needless to say, he was a bit put off and embarrassed after that encounter and stopped trying to, as I said, 'whoo' me for awhile.

Hours later we found ourselves sitting together under a tree on the grounds, playing a rousing game of _Battleship_. The sound of thunder echoed across the grounds as Harry took his turn.

"Hm," he muttered as he examined his own game board. "B6."

"Dammit," I cursed under my breath. "Hit. Go on, take your extra turn." I pulled out a red piece and marked my hit ship.

"Alright, B...," he paused, searching for his next kill, "B7."

"Hit."

"B8?"

"Hit."

"B9?"

"Hit."

"And B10," Harry finished, a sly smile on his face.

"Dammit, Harry. You just sank my battleship!" I said frustrated, placing a final red piece in my now sunk battleship.

"And I do believe that means I win," he said triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I can't believe I lost! I had the perfect game plan," I said staring at my lost game.

"You put all your ships in two straight lines at the very front. I took out your entire fleet in," he paused to glance down at his watch," twelve minutes. Not the greatest strategy I've ever seen."

"You got lucky," I fussed.

"You're really a poor loser, aren't you?" Harry asked amused.

Before I could come up with some sarcastic remark or tackle Harry to the ground, a flash of lightning streaked the sky followed by a faint rumble of thunder and sudden downpour.

"Why does it _always_ rain here?" I asked as I stood up.

"Come on, let's get inside before we get drenched," Harry said, standing up next to me. I looked at him for a few seconds, letting the rain around us continue to fall at increasing speeds.

"Too late. Hey look! Now all of our ships are sinking," I said with a sarcastic smile. He gave me that look that I've come to realize all my friends give me. That look that said he was unappreciative of my sarcasm. He wrapped his arm around my neck and kissed me quickly. He pulled back and smiled at me. It was short, sweet, and sent butterflies loose in my stomach.

"C'mon, let's get inside before my game gets ruined."

After we were back inside all nice, warm, and changed, we went to join Ron in the Hall as he watched seventeen year old after seventeen year old entering their name into the Goblet.

"Eternal glory. Be brilliant, wouldn't it? In three years when we're old enough to enter," Ron said as we slowly walked towards the Goblet. I watched Cedric approach the Goblet, step gracefully through the Age Line and submit his name into the blue flames. He stepped out of the circle and was immediately incased by a group of ecstatic Hufflepuffs. I scanned the group absentmindedly until I saw the unmistakable face of Sage among them. She, like many of the other girls, had a huge 'swooney girl' smile. She, from what I've been hearing, fancied him like no other person could. She wasn't really in love with him, she didn't even really like him. But you know, older, popular, good looking boys, some people can't stay away from them.

"Rather you than me," I added, turning my attention from my silly sister. "Actually, rather you than either me or Harry." I really didn't want Harry to enter any tournament as deadly as this one.

"Just because you're his girlfriend doesn't mean you can make decisions for him," Ron said offensively.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry grumbled sarcastically. "I can handle myself. But she's right. I'd rather sit that one out."

"But come on, Harry. Eternal glory!" Ron said, his eyes widening.

"Hey, eternal glory. Already got it," Harry had with a fake big shot grin. Before anyone else could say something, Fred and George came running into the Hall, receiving thunderous applause from students.

"Cooked it up just this morning," George said as he and his brother were having their hands shook, and being patted on the back.

"It's not going to work," Hermione sang from a nearby bench, looking up from her book.

"Oh ya," Fred said as he knelt on one side of Hermione.

"And why's that, Granger?" George asked from the other.

"See this? This is an Age Line," Hermione said, referencing to the glowing blue light around the Goblet. "Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?" the boys asked together.

"_So_," Hermione huffed, closing her book and slamming it down on her legs, "a genius like Dumbledore, couldn't possibly be fooled by a dodge as so pathetically dim witted, as an _aging potion_."

"But that's why it's so brilliant," Fred said.

"Because it's so pathetically 'dim witted'," George added. The two stood up from Hermione's side, leaving her still mad at their ignorance. The two began shaking the vials, making sure the contents were mixed up and ready. "Ready, Fred?"

"Ready, George. Bottoms up." The two linked arms and sucked down their potions. They jumped down from the bench, over the age line, and landed on the stone floor. The Hall, excluding Hermione of course, burst out into cheers and applause, excited that two underage boys were this far past the age line. The boys played it up a bunch, enjoying the attention. The Hall was suddenly quiet as Fred and George lifted their arms up, about to submit their names.

"One…two…three," they said together, dropping their names in simultaneously. Everything was silent for a second or so, until it seemed like they'd done it. We all burst out into applause again, this time louder then before. Fred and George high-fived gleefully before the Age Line constricted and expanded again, shooting Fred and George out of it and to the back of the Hall. The mood in the room had shifted from excitement to unease in a matter of seconds. I looked, wide-eyed and unsure, from Harry to Ron, both of whom were sporting the same looks. I glanced over at Hermione, who was trying to stifle a laugh and a sly smile. Everyone turned around to look at Fred and George, who were starting to sit up shakily. Quickly growing on their faces, were identical long, white beards. The two looked at each other, one would think to laugh at their misfortunes. Instead, they narrowed their bushy, white eyebrows at each other, angry.

"You said!" They shouted at each other, before they tacked one another. The two brothers began rolling on top of each other, angry, upset, disappointed, humiliated, take your pick, it doesn't really matter, and pulling each others beards. The group in the Hall gathered around the two brothers and started laughing and egging them on. It was quite funny, watching these two pranksters rolling on each other and fighting.

We could have stood there all day watching them, but before we got too far, I felt the atmosphere around us change. I looked back towards the Goblet and the doors, to see Krum walking steadily and determined into the Hall, flanked by Karkaroff and another boy. Harry, seeming to sense my change in focus, looked at me, then followed my gaze to Krum. The rest of the group too sensed the change and focus and turned around, instantly getting quiet. He walked straight up to the Goblet, through the Age Line, and submitted his name. He turned to leave, but slowed down when he noticed Hermione sitting there watching him, like everyone else. He gave her a small wink, before continuing out to rejoin Karkaroff and the other boy.


	10. I Hate It When The Game Changes On You

After dinner on Saturday, Professor Dumbledore rearranged the tables in the Great Hall for the champion selection. Our normal seats had been moved to make way for the goblet, so we took refuge on a set of bleachers on the side of the hall. I took a seat to Harry's left, a girl I've never noticed before to mine. She was tall, slender, and had a modest figure. Her eyes were the palest shade of blue I've ever seen, so pale they were almost gray. Her long hair almost glowed it was so blonde. She turned to me, sensing I was looking at her.

"Hi, I'm Stephanie," I introduced. She looked at me for a second before replying.

"Oh, right. Sage's sister," she replied. Before I could asker her how she knew, she added, "I'm in the same house and year. You two also have the same face. Your eyes are also similar. Although hers are brown and yours-"

"Are blue," I said for her. "Sometimes that's the only way people can tell us apart. It's really weird when people come up to you and start staring at you like this," I bugged my eyes out and stared at her until it was obviously awkward, "and then start talking to you." She bit her lip to stifle a laugh, but couldn't hold it when I started laughing too.

"I'm Riley, by the way," she added with a smile. I returned her smile, about to say something else, but jumped from my seat when Dumbledore shouted to the school.

"And now the moment you've all been waiting for! The champion selection!" He turned around and pointed to all of the lit lanterns above, dimming them one by one. He approached the goblet slowly, the blue flames flickering. The Hall was filled with a luminous red light as the goblet spit out the first name., The charred parchment floated back down, Dumbledore picking it out of the air.

"The Durmstrang champion is…Viktor Krum!" The Hall roared with applause, mostly from the Durmstrang boys and some of his fan girls. Krum rose from the Slytherin table and walked towards Dumbledore, took his name, and walked confidently to the back room off the Hall.

Once the noise had died down and the attention was back on the goblet, Dumbledore turned back and circled it while he waited for the next name. The flames turned a bright red and shot out another piece of parchment. This one landed daintily in Dumbledore's hand.

"The champion form Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" The Hall burst into another fit of applause as the _belle fille française _(that's right! Cower in fear you _très stupide persone qui parlent l'espanol. J'ai perdu la partie! (: J'adore le français!)_ gracefully walked up to Dumbledore and took her name.

Once the Hall was yet again quiet of applause and the _click_s of Fleur's heels, Dumbledore turned back tot the goblet for a third time. Ha, now time for something that's actually applicable to me. I mean, not like anyone I really know entered, but hey, I'd like someone reasonable to represent me and my school. The goblet shot out a third and final name in red flames, leaving the whole school inb suspense. Dumbldore grabbed the parchment like it was caught up in a tether (Come oooon! _Ministry of Magic_ reference! House Song! Does _anybody_ ever get my quirky quotes and allusions? No? Well then, don't come back and read my fanfic till you're up to speed….no wait! Come back! Don't leave…), and read the name over before speaking.

"The Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory!" For the third time the Hall exploded with applause, this time the loudest of them all. Cedric stood up and began to walk forward, but kept getting held up by students shaking his hands, patting him on the back, hugging him, or even trying to kiss him. Even over all that noise, I could still hear Sage who had stood up on her seat, not too far from where Cedric had been, screaming her bloody lungs out.

Minutes or so later when the Hall was fully silenced, Dumbledore turned back to address the rest of the schools.

"Excellent! We now have our three champions! But in the end only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, the Triwizard Cup!" Dumbledore shouted, turning around to point at a covered object. As he pointed to it the cover was removed, leaving a glimmering crystal cup. The Hall cheered again, relishing in the beauty of the cup. Oh good, bedtime, I thought., I turned back to face the front and noticed Professor Snape staring at something while slowly moving forward. I followed his gaze and looked at the goblet in confusion. The flames were flickering madly and had turned a darker shade of red than before. The rest of the school slowly noticed something wasn't right and all became silent. Dumbledore, noticing the unusual behavior of the students, turned around and started at the goblet.

"D'you know what's happening?" I whispered leaning into Harry. He turned to me and shrugged uncertainly. I took his hand, knowing something bad was about to happen. He squeezed it, sensing the same thing. The flames erupted so bright it was blinding. When I looked back, a fourth piece of parchment was falling from the sky. Dumbledore grabbed it slowly, looking at it with curiosity. He read whatever was on the paper and whispered to himself its contents.

"Harry Potter," he said, almost unsure of himself. If I hadn't been hit with a sudden severe case of numbness, I would have felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall look at us. The only person who wasn't looking at Harry was himself, who was looking at me. I wasn't sure, but it looked like a flicker of fear crossed his face. I wanted to say something, like 'what the bloody hell is going on? Why the bloody hell did your name come out of the goblet? What's going to happen? You can't possibly be a champion, can you? Please tell me what the bloody hell is happening!' but I couldn't. My mouth had dried up making it hard to talk. Even if my mouth wasn't dry, I wouldn't have been able to breathe.

"HARRY POTTER!" Dumbledore shouted, getting aggravated. Hermione, who had been sitting behind us, told Harry he had to get up, that he couldn't sit here forever. She pushed him so he was standing and pushed him forward (ho! That's just for you, Sarah/Riley. And for Melinda, but like she's ever gonna read my fanfic. And if you are reading this Melinda….I love you! Ajajafaja! (: And if you're neither of these people…just ignore me). Still holding my hand, he began walking forward until my arm wouldn't reach anymore and his hand fell out of my grasp. He walked slowly almost as in a trance to Dumbledore. All around people began whispering like mad, accusing him of entering himself. Well what if he- no! That's ridiculous! I thought, shaking my head. Harry would never, ever, _ever_ enter himself. Or would he? _No!_ He wouldn't! But…I'll ask him myself the next time I see him…whenever that could be. I looked back up just in time to see Harry slip into the back room, the door shutting behind him. Every student turned to one another and began talking about what had just happened. Apparently now that Harry was out of ear shot, it didn't matter who heard. I tried to keep tears out of my eyes as people began saying terrible, horrible things about Harry. It felt like people were throwing knives at me. Dumbledore looked around, unsure of what to do next. He silenced everyone and told them to return to their houses. I was so out of it, I didn't notice any of this happening until Riley nudged me.

"Stephanie? Are you okay?" she asked. I stared at the floor in front of me, searching for an answer or at least a response. I turned to her and stared, just gaping.

"Come on, Riley," a Hufflepuff girl said, grabbing her wrist, "you don't want to be hanging out with _Potter's_ girlfriend." She tried dragging her with her, but Riley escaped so her wrist was free.

"Why on earth not? It's not like Harry would enter himself," Riley said looking from her friend to me. Wow, I just met this girl and she's already defending Harry for me, I thought, smiling faintly at her.

"Oh _please._ We all know he did it. Even she knows," she said gesturing to me, "and if she thinks he's innocent then they must not be that close as everyone thinks." This time she pulled Riley up out of her seat and down the Hall. I stood up slowly and tried to avoid everyone's eyes as I made my way back to the Common Room. That proved to be a difficult task. While I tried to avoid everyone while I walked back, everyone else seemed to have targeted me to insult me and be mean.

I finally reached the Common Room what seemed like hours later. As soon I entered the portrait I was bombarded by a swarm of people all cheering and smiling.

"Congratulations, Steph! I can't believe Harry did it! How on earth _did _he do it? Y'know, without getting a beard and all," Fred cheered while he, George, and Lee Jordan pulled me into a group hug. I stood their awkwardly, unsure of what to do. I scanned the Common Room for anyone, Ron, Hermione, Jennifer, Parker, anyone to get me out of this. All around people were cheering and eating. There were bowls of food and chips set out everywhere and mugs of butterbeer. Someone had dug up a Gryffindor banner and had hung it up over the room. I couldn't believe that all these people thought that Harry had actually entered into the Tournament himself. I mean I knew a few people might think that, but not the majority of Gryffindor.

"I think I'll just go wait for Harry o-over here," I said, shrugging myself out of their grasp. I pushed myself through crowds of people till I finally made it to the staircase. I turned around searching for any one of my friends one last time, before giving up and retreating to my dorm. I quickly changed into some pjs and laid on my bed staring up at the ceiling. I probably should have stay down and waited for Harry. Lord only knows what he was going through. I wanted to be there for him, but I needed to be alone to think things over first. My mind was such a jumbled mess I wasn't even sure where to start!

How about simple? _Did Harry enter himself? _No! Absolutely not! At least we got that figured out. But…since he didn't legitimately enter would they allow him compete? I dunno. The goblet seems to posses some serious magic mojo, those old wizards might not let him back out. Well…if they didn't let him back out then what kind of horrible tasks would he have to face? I don't know if I could handle watching Harry fight for his life while I sat in the bleachers eating popcorn. But what was I suppose to do? Go in and battle with him? If he happened to…get seriously hurt or w-worse, I'd feel like it was all my fault. That I'd been lounging in the audience while he lost his life and I'd done nothing to protect the one that I loved.

Whoa! What did I just say? I _loved _him? Where on earth did that come from? I mean…yes he's my boyfriend…and I really like him, but…did I love him? We've only been dating for three months, was that rushing things if I said I loved him?

Before I could answer myself, I heard the dormitory door open and a few girls came walking in chattering away. I quickly turned over in my bed and hiding my face. I quickly put in my headphones not wanting to hear whatever, good or bad, they had to say about Harry right now. Within minutes I feel silently asleep.

I opened my eyes wearily, the morning light shinning in. I shifted in bed slightly, sitting myself up. I was surprised to find one headphone still in, my iPod lying on the bed. I sat up rubbing my eyes, starting to remember the night before.

We were in the Great all at the champion selection. The Durmstrang champion was…Krum. Oh boy, Ron would be happy with that. That French girl…Fleur was the Beauxbatons champion (obviously). And Cedric had been chosen as the Hogwarts champion. Sage would be very pleased with that. Then that was it, right? We went back to the Common Room and talked about the tasks ahead, homework, how we thought the champions would do, right? Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, maybe even Jennifer and Parker. Am I right or am I wrong? I was wrong. Sadly I couldn't even fool myself into believing that lie. That nothing else had happened. That Harry, _my_ Harry, _my_ boyfriend's name had mysteriously come out of the goblet.

"I have to talk to Harry," I said to myself. I whipped the covers off flinging myself outta bed. I looked around noticing no one else was in here. I threw on some clothes and made my way down to the Common Room. As I did, I noticed it too was fairly empty. I continued down to the Great Hall in hopes of finding Harry. Along the way, I received glares from people I knew, barely knew, and had never bloody seen before in my life.

I walked into the Great Hall, a few people every few feet. I scanned the Gryffindor table, spotting Ron alone. Where in the bloody hell could Harry be? Or Hermione for that matter? I walked up next to him and stopped, noticing more people staring at me.

"Hey, Ron. Do you have any idea where Harry is?" I asked. It appeared as though Ron clenched his fists and maybe even gritted his teeth before answering.

"No," he said bitterly. "Nor could I ever care." He continued eating not once looking at me.

"Uhm, okay…" I said furrowing my eyebrows. What crawled up your arse and died?

"I think him and Hermione went outside," Jennifer said a few feet down the table. I turned and smiled at her gratefully. She looked back at me with a mixture of concern and pity. I turned and walked back outside in search of my best friend and boyfriend. Sure enough minutes later, I spotted Harry and Hermione sitting a short ways away under a tree.

"Harry!" I called out to him as I came closer. He turned around looking for who had called his name. Once he realized it was me he got to his feet quickly. He started towards me, but stopped and looked at me, uncertain. I stopped in front of him, feeling like my breathing was become shallower. We stood there for a few seconds awkwardly, Hermione now standing behind him. I flung myself towards him suddenly, pulling him into a tight hug. I felt my body relax as he wrapped his arms around me. My breathing, however, had not returned to normal.

"Stephanie," he said quietly into my hair. We stood there for a few seconds just relishing in each other.

"Harry. I'm so glad you're alright," I began still holding onto Harry. "I was worried about you."

"What did you think would happen to me over night?" Harry asked sarcastically pulling back, still holding my hands.

"I…I dunno. You might have spontaneously combust or…or something!" I said quickly.

"Actually," Harry said, chuckling to himself, "I'm surprised half the school or more didn't attempt to murder me last night."

"That's why I was so worried. It was awful last night. After you went into the back room with the other champions and the professors. Everyone began accusing you and saying really awful things about you. People were either furious that you had cheated the system or ecstatic because you cheated the system," I said, recalling last nights events. "I can't even believe that people would think that."

"Wait. So…you're saying you believe me? That I didn't put my name in myself," Harry asked looking at me.

"What kind of person do you think I am?" I asked hitting his arm playfully. "Of course I believe you. Who in their right mind wouldn't?"

"That big, swollen-headed stiff-"Harry began grumpily. (Yaaay! Okay, I don't think _anyone _would get that one. It's okay, I don't expect them to. It's more for me (: It's a quote from_ Annie Get Your Gun_, which happened to be our school's musical this past winter. I originally wrote this part at that time, so it was all up in my mind.)

"You mean your _best friend_?" Hermione interjected.

"Ron?" I asked confused. "Why on earth would he be upset?"

"He's jealous. Harry's _always_ in the spotlight. Whether he wants to be or not," Hermione explained.

"Definitely _not_," Harry said. "Look, if Ron's always jealous of the attention I don't want, we won't be so keen when I wind up with a broken neck or d-"

"Harry!" Hermione and I gasped at once. Hermione and Harry carried on their conversation, but I, however, _totally_ zoned out. My heart had dropped down around my knee's, a rubber band feeling around my lungs. I couldn't even imagine seeing Harry seriously injured.

"Stephanie? Stephanie!" Hermione shouted.

"Huh? I asked, snapping out of my delusions.

"Are you okay? You…eh kinda zoned out there," Hermione said.

"Ya, ya. I'm fine," I said, rubbing my temples.

"Well…alright. I'm going to go one up to the library (really…again? Gosh Hermione). I'm guessing you two will-"

"Stay here," harry and I said together. We looked at each other, smiling faintly. We said goodbye to each other as Hermione left us alone.

"How 'bout a walk?" Harry asked, turning to me.

"Love to," I said quietly taking his hand. We started walking in the opposite direction that I had come oh so long ago. We walked in silence for a few minutes. I couldn't keep my mind from wandering to Harry. Not just him, but imagining him lying on the ground bruised and broken. Just lying there like a rag doll…

"Are you sure you're alright?" Harry asked stopping under a tree by the lake.

"Ya, I'm fine," I lied, not looking him in the eye.

"Please, Stephanie. You know you can tell me anything," he said, grabbing my other hand and squeezing them both. I bit my bottom lip, looking at the ground.

"Please," he repeated, pulling me closer. I looked up into his eyes, my heart fluttering. I looked back down and sighed.

"It's just," I started, pulling him down so we were sitting against the tree. "I'm…I'm…scared."

"Scared?" Harry echoed.

"For you. I mean, this is a tournament people _die_ in. It might be different if you had entered on your own behalf. But you didn't. Someone did this to you. Someone wants you to…to…"

"Die." I looked up at him, his face full of emotions. I was sitting right next to him, but it felt like we were a thousand miles away. My bottom lip trembled slightly, causing the rest of my body to shake. I rested my head on Harry's chest as he pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me.

"It'll be alright, Steph," he said quietly.

"How do we know that? I don't mean to be pessimistic, but…how do we know you won't…won't" I paused again. Harry pulled back slowly and took my chin in his hand.

"As long as I have you by my side I'll be alright. We'll be alright. Okay?" I nodded shakily and smiled. He pulled me in for a gentle kiss sending shivers up and down my spine. I lied my head on his chest and his on top of mine when we broke apart. He wrapped his arms back around me pulling me close. I couldn't help but notice how perfect I seemed to fit into his arms. We were like two puzzle pieces. Not like a kid trying to make two pieces that obviously didn't fit together work. Or even two pieces that kinda fit, but still didn't fully. We fit like two pieces that the manufacturer made fit together. Or so it seemed to me. I took in a breath, inhaling Harry's wonderful scent.

Could I love Harry? I don't even know exactly what love is. I've liked other guys before, but Harry's the first guy I've ever like liked, let alone my first boyfriend. How can I even tell if I love him? Gah! I'm so confused! Maybe I should ask my aunts for help. They should know all about love and that junk. I'll remember to ask one of them the next time I see them.

"Hey…I think I'm gonna go up to the Owlery and send Sirius a letter. About…y'know. What's going on. Wanna come?" Harry asked bringing me back to reality.

"Sure. I can orb us up to your dormitory if you need some paper," I offered. He nodded and stood up, helping me up too. I grabbed his hand and orbed us from the breezy grounds into the slightly warmer boys dorm. I looked around as Harry searched his school bag for some parchment and thankfully found it empty. I didn't want to run into anymore people who were acting like Ron. I'm sure he's not the worst one out there. Harry returned to my side grabbing my hand. I orbed us out and to the Owlery, instantly smelling the mixture of owls and poop.

"Hey, Harry. Do you mind if I borrow some parchment? I think I'm gonna send a letter to my aunts," I asked turning to him. He nodded, pulled out a few pieces and handed them to me. I smiled and walked off to a corner to find Anthea. I didn't really need to write anything, I just wanted to get these thoughts out of my head before I exploded.

Before I had to walk to far my gray owl dropped in front of me, a little sophronitis in her claws. I opened my hand so I could catch it as she opened her claws to drop it. I smiled to myself as I looked down at the orange tropical flower, wondering again where in the world she finds these flowers. I orbed a quill into my hand and started writing a quick letter.

_Dear Piper, Phoebe, and Prue,_

_I know I don't usually write you letters…or tell when I'm coming home…but I need some serious help. Things have gotten a bit out of control here. Don't know if you know about the supposedly famous _'Triwizard Tournament',_ I didn't. Well anyways, there are only suppose to be three champions, hence the term 'tri'… I should just get to the point. Harry's name mysteriously got entered into the Tournament and now he has to compete. But the champions are suppose to be over 17. He's only 14 and he happens to be the fourth champion. We have no idea what's going on, but everyone pretty much hates him thinking he entered himself. He didn't. I really need to talk to someone about…stuff. If someone could be home Saturday…I'd be really grateful. I think that's all. I'll talk to you guys or someone Saturday._

_Stephanie_

I folded my letter and stuffed it into an envelope. I addressed it before turning back to Anthea and handing her the letter. I watched her fly away before turning back to Harry. I watched him struggle to give Hedwig his letter, getting nipped in the process, before she finally took it and flew off. He stood up slowly, examined his finger, and turned back towards me.

"You okay?" I asked curiously.

"I dunno," he sighed. "First Ron's mad at me and now Hedwig. Is there anyone who _doesn't_ hate me?"

"I know at least one," I said with a small smile. Harry returned my smile before pulling me into a hug. Hmm…maybe this really could be love.


	11. Who Knew Snape Was Human?

You'd think after people got use to the idea of Harry being a fourth champion they'd calm down. Well the next few days of school proved me wrong. The rest of the school, just like the Gryffindors and Riley's friend, thought that Harry entered himself. They, however, did not seem as impressed. The Hufflepuffs generally got along well with us, but they had suddenly turned cold. Even the Ravenclaws who were great friends with all the houses had become distant from us. Of course the Slytherins still hated us, surprise, surprise.

The most shocking part of wasn't that practically the entire school hated Harry and, by association, myself; it was that even my sisters were avoiding me. Alexa was determined to avoid me at all costs. Once Harry and I had finally tracked her down in the library she didn't seem too thrilled. She avoided looking at us and only spoke in short sentences before orbing out on us awkwardly. Sage, on the other hand, was being completely obvious in her attempts to avoid us. She didn't talk to any of us in Herbology nor did she even acknowledge our presence. I mean, she's my sister! My twin sister! Aren't we supposed to be thick as thieves or something? I needed to talk to someone as soon as possible. Not just about the whole possibly loving Harry thing, but everything.

"I'm going to go back home for a few," I said around three the next Saturday afternoon. I stood up from the couch untangling myself from Harry.

"Oh, okay," Harry said slowly. "I'll just hang out with Hermione in the library, I guess." I turned around and looked at him feeling my heart sink.

"You have other friends than Hermione and I. You could have some guy time if you needed," I said.

"But right now none of them want anything to do with me. They either all hate me because I entered or love me because I entered. I just want to be with people who don't think I entered," he said looking away.

"I know this must be hard for you. Heck, we haven't encountered the First Task yet. Lord only knows what is going happen after that…" I stopped and looked over, and saw Harry giving me a sarcastic 'please stop talking' look. "I'm not helping am I?"

"No. Not really."

"Sorry," I said apologetically. "Look, I'll try and make it a quick trip home. I have to talk to someone about…stuff. I don't even know how this conversation is going to go, but it just has to happen I guess."

"You know you can always talk to me," he said quietly.

"I know, I know. It's not that I don't want to but…I need a woman's perspective. You can understand, can't you? I mean, there's got to be things you talk to…_Sirius_," I whispered, "about rather than me, right?" He looked away from me and made a face, a face which meant I was right. I sat down on the arm of the couch placing my hand on his cheek. "I'll be back as soon as possible. I won't leave you all alone forever. Kay?" he nodded with a sigh and looked at me. I tried to give him a hopeful smile before kissing his forehead. I stood up and orbed out without another word.

~xx~

After my little chat with Phoebe I still had no idea where my heart lied. Sure she had helped me sort out a few things, but for the most part I was just as confused as ever. If the attitude towards Harry, and even I occasionally, was bad enough, double Potion's with Slytherin's definitely made things worse. We'd already managed to survive one Friday's worth. Well, just barely.

When Harry, Hermione, and I arrived at the dungeon after lunch, we found the Slytherins waiting outside, each and every one of them wearing a large badge on the front of their robes. Their badges all bore the same message, in luminous red letters that burnt brightly in the dimly lit underground passage: **Support CEDRIC DIGGORY- the REAL Hogwarts Champion!**

"Like them, Potter?" Malfoy said loudly as we approached. "And this isn't all they do – look!" He pressed his badge to his chest and the message vanished, only to be replaced by another one which glowed green: **Potter Stinks! **The Slytherins all howled with laughter, each of them pressing their badges until the message_Potter Stinks_ was shining brightly around us. I rolled my eyes, heaved a great sigh, and turned to look at Harry. Even in the dark of the dungeons I could see colour rising into his face slightly.

"Oh _very_ funny, really witty," Hermione said sarcastically to Pansy as I squeezed Harry's hand trying to drag him away. I noticed Ron standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus. He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't sticking up for Harry either, that stupid prick.

"Have one, Cradey," Draco said while throwing a pin at me. I let it fly by me and hit the wall without making a move. "Want one, Granger? I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood slimming it up." I wanted so badly to turn around and punch him in the face but was distracted as I felt Harry's hand slip from mine. I looked over and saw him reaching for his wand.

"Harry!" Hermione and I said together warningly.

"Go on, then, Potter," Draco said drawing his wand. The two looked at each other before acting at exactly the same time.

_"Furnunculus!"_ Harry yelled.

_"Densaugeo!" _Draco screamed.

Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles. Harry's hit Goyle in the face and Draco's hit Hermione. Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his hands to his nose where great ugly boils were springing up. Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth. I hurried over to Hermione to see what was happening to her, Ron behind me. I tried to drag her hand away to see the damage. Hermione's front teeth, already slightly larger than normal, were now growing at an alarming rate. She was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth kept growing; past her bottom lip, toward her chin – panic stricken, she felt them and let out a whimper.

"What is all this rumpus?" a soft, deadly voice said from behind us. Snape had appeared behind us, looking unruly as usual. He turned to Malfoy for an explanation.

"Potter attacked me, sir -"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted angrily.

"They attacked each other at the same time!" I said at the same time as Harry.

"- and he hit Goyle - look -" Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled

something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione!" Ron said. "Look!"  
He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth - she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back. Snape looked coldly at Hermione, and then said, "I see no difference." Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight.  
"That was highly uncalled for, Professor," I replied angrily. Harry and Ron joined in after me letting their anger control what they were saying.

"Let's see, seventy points from Gryffindor and a detention for Potter, Weasley, and Cradey. Now get inside or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

I clenched my hand into a fist and stormed into the dungeon, throwing my bag on the back table. Harry was shaking with anger as he slumped down next to me. Ron, too, was shaking – for a moment, it seemed as though he'd sit down next to us, like things had been – but then he turned and went to sit with Seamus and Dean. Across the dungeon, Draco turned his back to Snape and pressed his badge to his chest, _POTTER STINKS_ flashing across the room. I had to suppress the urge to chuck something at his head, probably only receiving more detentions. Snape started saying something about antidotes, but I wasn't paying much attention. I was still mad at the injustice to Hermione, Draco's stupid badges. Pft…Potter stinks my arse. He's _my_ best friend and _my_ boyfriend, if only people could see what I see in him, and then they wouldn't be so understand. But then again, everyone would want to date him.

A knock echoed through the dungeon breaking through my thoughts. It was Colin Creevey; he edged into the room, beaming over at Harry, and walked up to Snape's desk at the front of the room.

"I'm supposed to take Harry Potter upstairs," Colin said in response to Snape's seething, questionable look.

"Potter has another hour of Potions to complete," Snape said coldly. "He will come upstairs when this class is finished." Colin went slightly pink at this.

"Sir – sir, Mr. Bagman wants him," he said nervously. "All the champions have got to go – "

"Very well, very well," Snape snapped. "Potter, leave your things here, I want you back down here later to test your antidote."

"Please, sir – he's got to take his things with him," Colin squeaked. "All the champions -"

"Very _well_! Potter – take your bag and get out of my sight!" Snape shouted. Harry almost jumped out of his seat from the ferocity in Snape's voice. He swung his bag around his shoulder, got up, and exited quickly with Colin behind him. Oh great, I thought. Now that Snape's all mad at Harry, he's gonna take his anger out on me. I'm probably going to get like…a month of detentions. Not to mention, Snape's probably gonna poison me now.

The rest of the class seemed to drag on forever. Snape, thankfully, never made any mention of Harry's dismissal or any repercussions we..._ I_ might face. In fact, he hardly made eye contact with me at all. Whether this was a good sign or not, I didn't know. Maybe he was plotting our slow, agonizingly painful deaths, afraid that minimal eye contact would reveal the whole horrific scene in his eyes. Or perhaps he had just let it go. Severus Snape? Let that go? Ya right, he's the most known 'Prince of Darkness' right behind Ozzy Osbourn. I highly doubt he'd let something like that _go_.

The bell finally rang, sounding more like an angels call breaking me from my hell.

"Miss Cradey?" Professor Snape said as I started packing up.

"S-sir?" I asked with a stutter, my fingers starting to shake and my throat drying.

"A word with you, if I may?" he said, not looking up from his parchment. I finished packing my bag and slowly made my way up to his desk. I stopped so I was standing in front of his desk and watched him continue to scribble on his parchment. The only thing I could hear was the sound of his quill on parchment and my pulse pounding in my head. I had no idea what this was about, but I felt like the rapture was about to unfold in front of me.

"I wanted to tell you not to worry about your detentions," he said indifferently. I had been expecting horrible news, so when I heard this my face changed from strained to shocked, then to confused.

"Really?" I asked confused. This really has to be some kind of joke. He's going to whip out an extra ten detentions for being so foolish as to believe him.

"Really. Contrary to popular believe, I don't favor _only_ Slytherins. In fact, I have seemed to have acquired a liking to you Miss Cradey," he said looking up at me. For once, instead of seeing dark, cold and unforgiving eyes, I saw a man with burdens from his past. I personally had no clue as to what 'burdens', but I knew they must exist.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, asking silently for him to explain more.

"I knew your parents." My face returned to its previous look of shock as I tried to make sense of what information I had just received. A lot of kids at this school wouldn't find this surprising, many of their parents probably were in the same year, or close to it, that he would have known them. But Snape knowing my parents seems perplexing. They never went to Hogwarts; they didn't even know they were magical for that long.

"Your father," Snape continued, "being quite sly for his age, lifted the binding spell you great-Grams placed on the girls when they were little. That's how we, Samantha and I, had such a strong connection to them. We were friends with all of your aunts, but especially Portia and Jack. They were exceptional people, an exceptional witch and wizard.

"Forgive me," he said after a slight pause. "That may be the most I've ever revealed about myself to a student. If word gets out that I have a soft spot for a Gryffindor, let alone _Potter's_ girlfriend-"

"I'll be in detention for the next three years," I finished sarcastically.

"Make sure you tell Potter and Weasley that their detention with me is tomorrow night, my dungeon," Snape continued.

"What, there's no friend and family amnesty pass for students you like?" I asked.

"No. Get out of my classroom before I make you serve with them," he replied. What seemed to shock me most was the fact that he, Professor Severus Snape, was laughing as he spoke to me. And what was even more shocking, I was smiling and laughing too. I turned around and made my way out of the class, thinking of how things had suddenly changed. The professor whose classroom I dreaded to go to could now have the potential to be maybe a tad enjoyable, if not tolerable. Sure, Snape and the Slytherins would always hate Harry and make rude comments to him, which will always get me mad. But now Snape would be more lenient on me, which was at least something.

I noticed Ron standing outside of the class, looking as if he was waiting for someone. He slowly approached me as I neared the exit. Oh, he's waiting for me, is he?

"What's he on about?" Ron asked, gesturing back into the classroom.

"Oh, you're talking to me now, are you? Just because you're ex-best friend isn't here anymore?" I mock asked.

"Look, it's not _you_ I'm mad at. It's that git-"

"So yes, it is Harry," I interjected, responding to myself. "Can't you two just stop being teenage boys and make up? Will you just apologize already?"  
"Me? Apologize? I have nothing to apologize for. He's the one who should be apologizing," Ron said a bit angrily.

"Oh, right, Harry. Ya, he should be apologizing for mysteriously being entered into something he never wanted. He should apologize for someone wanting him dead. He could be _dead_ by the end of this year. Hell, he could be dead by the end of next month. You're right, he has everything to apologize for," I replied heatedly. I stormed off towards the Great Hall, leaving Ron to contemplate what I'd said.

I sat down at the Gryffindor table with a huff, plopping my bag down next to me, saving the seat for Harry. Not that I was expecting a whole horde of people to suddenly want to sit by me just because Harry was gone. A few people, however, did seem to think that way as more people than normal were suddenly gathered around me.

Hermione came walking in, a little more upbeat than normal, sitting across from me.

"Where's Harry?" she asked, taking notice of the empty spot next to me.

"Still upstairs. He left in Potions for some official Champion business. How are you feeling now?"

"Better. Much better," she said with a smile. She leaned in and whispered, "I had Madame Pomfrey shrink my teeth a little past normal." She leaned back with a gleeful, accomplished smile, and took a bite of Yorkshire pudding. The two of us chatted all through dinner, with occasional glances at the entrance door from me. Honestly, where the heck was Harry? I figured they would just take a few pictures, a quick interview with each of them, and then that was that. I took another sweeping glance around the Hall, hoping Harry had sat somewhere else, not noticing where his friends were. I heaved a sigh, picked up my bag, and sulked back to the Common Room alone.

"Oh, by the way, Ron," I said, stopping in front of where he was eating with Dean and Seamus. "You and Harry's detention is tomorrow afternoon, his room."

"What about you?" Ron asked a bit confused.

"I was let off the hook," I said, turning back to the door and walking out. Upon entering the Common Room, I searched the area to see if Harry was sitting anywhere. Maybe he'd eaten earlier and been up here waiting for me. Sadly, I couldn't spot that dark haired boy. I frowned slightly and set my stuff on a table. I'll wait for him a little longer, I thought as I sat down.

After sitting in the Common Room working on my homework all alone for what seemed like hours, I gave up on waiting for Harry. I'll see him in the morning, hopefully. I mean, tomorrow is Saturday so if he hasn't spontaneously combusted, we cans pend all day together. I packed up my things and headed upstairs.


	12. Spirits Falling Faster

"You're going to meet him then, aren't you?" I asked Harry the next morning. Apparently Harry had come back up to the Common Room shortly after I went to bed. He also, apparently, received a letter from Sirius who was planning on having a little meeting with Harry. Face to face. In a days time.

"Well, yea," Harry said, trying to suppress a smile. I could tell he was excited to talk to Sirius in person; I thought it was cute how excited he was.

"Do you know _how_ you're going to meet?" I asked, scanning the letter again for any information.

"Er, no. He just said to be alone at one in the morning Sunday," Harry said taking the letter back and reading it over again. "I'm sure the alone part includes a plus one. I mean, if you wanted to stick around and hear what he's got to say."

"'What he's got to say'?" I repeated.

"I'm sure he's not risking his safety just to pop in and say hello. Hopefully he'll be able to give me some advice for Tuesday." Harry said, his face changing from excited to anxious. Not the excited kind of anxious, more like the anxious that anxiety attacks branch from. I reached over and grabbed his hand in attempts to lighten his mood.

"You'll be brilliant, I promise," I said giving his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back slightly sending a shiver up my arm. I don't know what it is, I feel fine whenever I touch him, but when he returns the touch it makes me smile. "Hey, it's a Hogsmeade weekend, do you want to go out with Hermione and I?"

"Won't Hermione want to go with Ron? They're still friends, aren't they?"

"Well, yes they are. But she suggested we, the four of us, meet up at the Three Broomsticks..."

"No," Harry said flatly.

"Come on, Harry, this is ridiculous-" I started.

"I'll go, but I won't meet with Ron, and I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak. I don't want to know how people treat me after that article," Harry said shortly. I rolled my eyes and heaved a short sigh.

"Can't one of you be the bigger person and apologize? Just make up already? Yes, you somehow got entered into the Tournament. No, you didn't enter yourself. You honestly _don't _want this to happen to you," I said.

"Tell that to Ron. Not me. Trust me, I'd have a much funner time if I were hanging out with Ron right now," Harry said, looking at the table.

"Rather than with your girlfriend?" I asked accusingly.

"No, that's not-" Harry started, his eyes widening.

"'Not what I said'?" I finished. "Well how about this? You're sick of hanging out with me, you're girlfriend. You'd rather hang out with your best friend. Since you can't do that, you'd rather hide from us that be seen with us."

"Stephanie, that's n-"

"Just go. Wear your damn cloak, I don't care," I snapped standing up from our table. "Just go and get your cloak on. Hermione and I will be waiting for you down here."

"Stephanie, I-"

"Go. Get. Your. Cloak. If you're not with us soon we'll leave you," I said through gritted teeth. I turned back around and sat down on the couch with a huff, my face burning slightly. I heard Harry stomp up the stairs and shut his dormitory door behind him.

"What's on between the two of you?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I don't really know," I said a bit exasperated. "I'm just tired of how the two of them act to each other. I think I may have been a bit harsh."

"It's getting to be ridiculous," Hermione said in agreement. "And yes, you may have been a little harsh." The door to the boys dormitory opened and closed without any visible person exiting. I stood up and faced the door, waiting for Harry.

"Ready," his voice said quietly behind us. I started off, taking the lead. I wasn't really in the mood to interact with Harry right now. I'm not really sure why I was mad at him. Other peoples moods seem to affect me. He's angsty and mad, so I guess I picked up his mood and returned it back to him.

It was a pleasant change not having people glaring in my direction every second. It really was Harry that people had a major issue with. Sometimes, people annoy me; maybe the Sorting Hat should have put me in Slytherin.

"Ugh, look," Hermoine said once we had entered the village. I looked forward to where she was gesturing and noticed who she was talking about. Rita Skeeter. She was, I guess, the official correspondent for the Triwizard Tournament. Harry told me about her after we read her 'amazingly accurate' interviews with the champions. It turned out to mostly a complete life story of Harry, covering multiple pages. Fleur and Krum's names were misspelled, and Cedric wasn't mentioned at all. She was carrying a green crocodile skin bag and wore a similar jacket and skirt suit combo.

"Why don't we go have a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?" Hermione suggested. "It's a bit cold, isn't it. Why don't you take the cloak off. It'll be toastier inside."

"You don't _have_ to talk to Ron," I said irritably, correctly interpreting the small silence. "You actually don't have to talk to _anyone._" Hermione made sure to follow in after I did, allowing Harry to walk in between us without causing much suspicion. I sat down at a table near the back as Hermione went to get our drinks. I felt Harry scoot in next to me and I automatically scooted away from him. I could hear him sigh with frustration. Maybe he was trying to make up for the little outburst.

Hermione returned a few strained minutes later with three butterbeers. She handed one to me and slipped a second under the cloak to Harry. I took a sip of my drink and smiled as the sweet, hot beverage slid down my throat warming me up. I leaned back and looked around the pub full of cheerful and relaxed people. Wouldn't it be nice to be one of them? Not having to worry about not the Tournament. Sitting here with Ron, Hermione, and Harry, not under the Invisibility Cloak, just hanging out. Not worrying about your best friend, let alone your boyfriend, facing the unknown, and according to some people certain death, in three days. Instead of sitting in the stands and watching Harry fight for his life, just being able to sit in the stands and cheer on the other champions.

I took another sip of my butterbeer and gripped the glass, feeling my anger fade away. Why exactly had I gotten so mad? I knew that he didn't mean he didn't want to spend time with me. Even if I wasn't his girlfriend, he'd still be hanging out with me as one of his best friends. I really shouldn't speak without thinking first. Everything I said just made things worse and worse. I'd much rather be spending time with Sage and Alexa rather than us be fighting. God, I feel like such a jerk now; hopefully he's mad still.

"Look, it's Hagrid!" Hermione said pointing across the crowd of people. I looked to where she pointed and spotted his giant, no pun intended, mess of black hair. Next to him was Moody, drinking form his personal flask instead of a butterbeer glass. Hagrid and Moody? That's a weird pair to be hanging out. Harry stood up to wave at Hagrid but stopped, realizing he was still under the cloak. Moody's eye turned and focused on where Harry was. He tapped Hagrid's shoulder and pointed to where Hermione and I were, visibly, seen.

"All right, Hermione? Stephanie?" Hagrid said loudly.

"Hello," Hermione and I said together. Moody limped around the table and bent down to where Harry was and said, "Nice cloak, Potter."

"Can your eye- I mean can you-?"

"Yeah. It can see through Invisibility Cloak's," Moody said quietly. "And it comes in useful at times, I can tell you."

Hagrid was beaming down at Harry too. Hagrid can't possibly see him, so Moody must've told him he was there. He bent down slightly and whispered, "Harry, meet me at midnight at me cabin. Wear that cloak." He started to stand back up but stopped when he noticed me. He bent back down and whispered, "You can bring Stephanie with yeh if yeh like."

He straightened up full this time and said loudly, "Nice ter see yeh, Hermione. Stephanie," winked, and departed, Moody following. We left the Three Broomsticks and headed straight back towards the caste. Apparently our time spent there was enough in Hogsmeade. Once we were back inside Gryffindor Tower Harry shredded the Invisibility Cloak back in his dorm and sat by himself in front of the fireplace. Hermione, being the hermit she is, retreated back into the library. The common room was empty, seeing as most of the kids were still in Hogsmede or enjoying the empty castle. The air was slightly tense as I sat down next to Harry on the couch.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so heated with you earlier. I just spoke my first reactions without thinking," I said to him. He looked at me slowly, then put his arms around me and pulled me closer.

"I'm sorry. Of course I want to spend time with you. I love spending time with you. I never meant it to sound like I didn't." I leaned my head against his chest and sighed.

"I-" _love you, _my mind finished for me. Thank God I shut my mouth before I spoke the whole sentence. Brain,why can't you just wait until my heart decides if I really love him or not. Or is it the other way around? The only think I know is that I personally do not know or not know if I truly love him. I very well might love him. Maybe it's like last year, I just need that defining moment where my whole body knows 'I like him'. Well, 'I love him'. But I'd really rather not have to have his life jeopardized just so my mind and heart are clear.

"You what?" Harry asked. I searched my brain trying to think of a good cover up. I couldn't tell him what was really going on in my head, well at least not yet.

"I...I wonder what Hagrid wants to show you- us tonight. And could it make us late for Sirius?" I lied. Well, that technically was something I was wonder. Just not what I was talking about.

At half past eleven that evening, Harry and I crept down to Hagrid's hut under his Invisibility Cloak. The grounds were very dark; the lights were shining inside Hagrid's cabin, however. The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; we could hear Madame Maxime's voice from inside of it as Harry knocked on the door to Hagrid's cabin.

"You there, Harry en Stephanie?" Hagrid whispered, opening the door and looking around.

"Yeah," the two of us replied as we slipped inside the cabin, Harry pulling the cloak down off our heads. "What's up?"

"Got summat ter show yeh," Hagrid said. "Come with me, keep quiet, an' keep yerself covered with that cloak. We won' take Fang, he won' like it..."

"Listen, Hagrid, we can't stay long...I've got to be back up at the castle by one o'clock..." But Hagrid wasn't listening; he was opening the cabin door and striding off into the night. We hurried to follow behind his steps and were surprised to see him leading us to the Beauxbatons carriage.

"Hagrid, what-?"

"Shhh!" Hagrid said as he knocked on the door to the carriage.

"Ah, 'Agrid...it is time?" Madame Maxime asked stepping out of the door.

"Bong-sewer," Hagrid said, butchering his French. _'Bon soir'. _What could Hagrid want to show us? Madame Maxime? We could see her any old time...she erm...not exactly hard to miss.

But it seemed she was in for the same treat as us, because after awhile she said playfully, "Wair is it you are taking me, 'Agrid?"

"Yeh'll enjoy this," Hagrid said gruffly, "worth seein', trsut me. On'y- don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s'posed ter know."

"Of course not," Maxime said, fluttering her long black lashes. And we kept walking. Well, Harry and I sort of jogged in their giant, again no pun intended, strides. Hagrid let Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. We hurried up alongside them – for a split second, I thought I saw bonfires, and men darting around them. I stopped dead in my tracks as my mouth fell open.

_Dragons._

Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood. Torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet about the ground. There was a silvery-blue one, a smooth-scaled green one, a red one with strange, gold fringe around its face, and a gigantic black one, more dinosaur looking than a dragon, which was closet to us.

"Keep back there, Hagrid! Yelled a wizard near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty."

"Wan' a closer look?" Hagrid asked Maxime excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence and Harry and I followed slowly behind. As we moved, I noticed we were gripping onto each other for support, subconsciously more than likely. I suddenly remembered Harry's meeting and looked down at my watch quickly; a quarter til one. What? Where the heck had all the time gone? We must have walked all the way to Hungary, for all I know. If it'd taken us this long to walk into the forest, it would take just as long to walk back. I loosened my grip on Harry's arm only to tug on his sleeve.

"Harry. Harry, look at what time it is," I whispered showing him my watch. He squinted slightly to see the time, then gasped, slightly too audible.

"Twelve forty five? How did this happen?" he whispered harsly.

"Well, you see. There are sixty minutes in an hour, and sixty seconds in each of those minutes-" I started. He glared at me playfully before taking my arm again.

"We gotta go," he said as we started turning around. We made our way back up to the school as quickly and quietly as we could, reaching the Common Room with two minutes to spare. I sprawled out on the couch breathing heavily.

"Don't...don't ever make me run like...like that again," Harry said in between pants.

"The only time I run that fast is when I'm trying to beat my sisters to a bathroom or food," I said breathing heavily.

I laid back on the couch, letting myself catch my breath. Before I could get too relaxed, I felt several small pricks on my back. I sat up suddenly, turning around to see what has assaulted my body. I found a few buttons lying on their front so the pins were facing the unlucky body part of anyone who sat down. I picked one up and examined it; an old _Support Cedric Diggory_ button someone had tried to turn in favor of Harry. Now all it said was _Potter REALLY stinks._ Brilliant.

I picked one up and tossed it into the dying embers, causing Harry to jump slightly.

"What? It's just a button," I said confused.

"No. _Look!_" Harry said pointing into the fire. I jumped off the couch at first when I saw the head resting in the fire. My eyes widened and my pulse slowed a bit as I recognized Sirius's face sitting in the fire. If I hadn't been in some kind of magical world, I would have probably fainted.

"Sirius - how're you doing?"

"Never mind me, how are you?" Sirius said seriously. Harry paused a second before replying. He didn't say he was fine. He didn't even say how he was. He suddenly jumped into talking about all that had happened so far. How no one believed he hadn't entered of his own free will, how Skeeter had written a wonder article filled with lies, how he couldn't walk down a corridor without being sneered at, how not even Ron was standing by his side...

"...and now Hagrid's just shown us what's coming in the first task, and it's dragons, Sirius, I'm a goner," he finished desperately. I swallowed hard remembering the four giant beasts breathing fire in the forest. Sirius looked at him, eyes full of concern, eyes that had not yet lost the look of Azkaban.

"Dragons we can deal with," Sirius began," but we'll get to that in a minute – I haven't got long here...I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about."

"What?" the two of us said together. I could hear Harry's spirits slip a few more notches in his voice, making my heart slip too. He was already positive he wasn't going to succeed , what could be worse to make him feel worse?

"Karkaroff. He was a Death Eater."

"He – what?"

"He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, be he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year – to keep an eye on him. Moody's the one who caught Karkaroff and put him in Azkaban in the first place.

"Karkaroff got released? Why in Merlin's name would they ever do that?" I asked slightly agitated. Karkaroff seemed shady and dark in the first place, but this just made things worse.

"He did a deal with the Ministry," Sirius said bitterly. "He said he's seen the error of his ways, and then he named names...he put a load of people into Azkaban in his place...He's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."

"Okay," Harry said slowly, taking this in. " But... are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the goblet? Because if he did, he's a really good actor. He seemed furious about it. He wanted to stop me from competing."

"We know he's a good actor," said Sirius, "Because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn't he?"

"Do...do you think Voldemort could have found out about the tournament? Is that what you mean? You think Karkaroff might be here on his orders?

"I don't know," Sirius said slowly," I just don't know. Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your name in the goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."

"Looks like a really good plan from where I'm standing," Harry said grinning bleakly. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff."

"Harry," I said closing my eyes and grabbing for his hand. All this talk about him being put into this to be purposefully hurt made me sick to my stomach. The thought of someone getting a sick joy from watching a teenage boy, my boyfriend none the less, being mangled to death. I swallowed, tasting a sick bile in the back of my throat as I thought about these things.

"Right – these dragons," Sirius said, speaking very quickly. "There's a way, Harry. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell – dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner, you need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon-"

"Yea, I know, we just saw," Harry said squeezing my hand slightly.

"But you can do it alone," Sirius said. "There is a way, and a simple spell's all you need. Just-"

But Harry suddenly held up a hand to silence him. I wasn't sure why he'd stopped him, until I could hear footsteps coming down the staircase.

"Go!" he hissed at Sirius. "_Go_! There's someone coming!"

Harry scrambled up to his feet pulling me up with him, hiding the fire – if someone saw Sirius's face within the wall of Hogwarts, they would raise an almighty uproar – the Ministry would get dragged in, Harry would probably be questioned about Sirius's whereabouts. He'd never tell, so they'd probably resort to... I didn't want to think about it.

There was a tiny _pop_ from the fire and Sirius was gone. Who in their right mind decided to go on a stroll at one in the morning and inadvertently stopped Sirius from sharing the secret to stopping the dragon?

Of course, it was Ron. Dressed in his ever so lovely maroon paisley pajamas, Ron stopped dead facing the two of us, looking tired and...confused.

"Who were you talking to?"

"What's that got to do with you? Maybe Stephanie and I were just talking. Privately," Harry snarled. " What are you doing down here at this time of night?"

"I just wondered where you-" Ron broke off, shrugging. "Nothing. I'm going back to bed."

"Just thought you'd come nosing around, did you?" Harry shouted. He was mad. For no reason, I'm sure. Ron hadn't known what we were doing down here' he hadn't known what he walked into, but I'm sure Harry doesn't care.

"Sorry about that," Ron said, his face reddening with anger. "Should've realized the two of you didn't want to be disturbed. You're probably helping him practice for his next interview, aren't ya. I"ll let you get on in peace."

Harry seized one of the buttons off the couch and chucked it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron on the forehead and bounced off.

"There you go. Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you're lucky...That's what you want, isn't it?" I bit my lip to suppress a laugh, figuring it might only add fuel to the fire. I followed Harry as he strode across the room and up the stairs. I stopped at the door to the girls dorm to look back at Harry, come to find he was looking back at me too. I tried to think of something to make him feel better, but I couldn't. All I did was walk up to him and kiss him on the cheek, offering him a sheepish smile.

"Night," I whispered before returning to my dorm and shutting the door behind me. I stripped off my clothes I was still wearing from our outing with Hagrid and slipped into bed.


	13. The First Task

The sandman did not grace my next few nights with much, if any at all, sleeping dust. I tossed and turned all night unable to fall asleep. I was tired as all get out, but my mind and body wouldn't let me sleep. I stared at my food Monday morning feeling almost as colourful as my gravy. I stood up with Harry and Hermione to follow them to Herbology when Harry interrupted my thoughts.

"Guys, I'll see you in the greenhouses," he said as he watched Cedric leave the Hall. "Go on, I'll catch you up."

"Harry, you'll be late, the bell's about to ring-"

"I'll catch you up, okay?"

Hermione rolled her eyes slightly and continued off towards the greenhouses. I continued standing by him, eying him and trying to decipher what he was planning on doing.

"Go on without me. I'll see you in a few," he said while taking my hand and squeezing. I sighed and nodded in agreement, rushing to the greenhouse before I was late myself. I sat down at my table with Hermione and Riley with 15 seconds to spare.

Over the past few weeks, Riley and I had become closer. I guess you could call us friends. Once Ron has abandoned our quartet, we needed another person at our table. No one other than Riley volunteered to fill the missing spot.

"Morning, Stephanie," Riley said with a smile. I replied with a head nod and a grunt that was suppose to represent a 'hello'.

"Are you feeling alright?" Riley asked questioningly.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I'm just really, _really _tired," I said while rubbing my eyes.

"Not getting enough sleep?" she continued.

"No," Hermione answered before I could open my mouth. "Sorry, but I've noticed you've been waking up a lot in the middle of the night. If you're not awake then you're tossing and turning and throwing your covers all over the place."

"What's up?" Riley asked. "The only reason I can think for you not getting enough sleep is that something's troubling you." She's almost as smart and intuitive as Alexa. Remind me why she's not in Ravenclaw? I looked at them, contemplating whether or not I should enlighten them about my current internal struggles.

Before I could answer, Professor Sprout began trying to start her lesson.

"Attention, attention. I'll let you continue your conversations in a moment, but pay attention to me first, if you please," she said waving her hands to get our attention. The murmurs of the class died down and turned their attention to Sprout.

"Excellent. Now, our Flutterby Bushes are ready to be pruned. Please grab your gloves and shears and get busy. That shall be all for today's lesson," she finished and retreated to her office/private greenhouse, letting the talking commence.

"So what is it that's got your mind so preoccupied?" Hermione asked as we began pruning our plants.

"It's Harry, isn't it?" Riley asked. I looked up for a second before returning my attention to my Flutterby. There's that dang intuition of hers again. "It is. What's going on that's got your brain more jumbled than an unsolved Rubix Cube?"

"It's...it's the whole Tournament. The fact that he was entered in the first place is upsetting, but I've come to terms with that; but not the fact that whoever entered his name in may be trying to hurt him intentionally, and knowing that the First Task is dragons-"

"Whoa, _dragons_? How do you know this?" Riley interjected holding up her gloved hand.

"That's another story," I said waving that side story away. "But what's worse, or better - well more pressing is, that I might be..."

"You're in love with him," Riley finished. It wasn't a question, but a statement; she was telling me something I think I already knew deep down inside.

"What? How do you know? I haven't told _anyone_!" I said quickly, glancing around to see if anyone else had heard.

"Sweetie, you don't have to tell anyone."

"She's right," Hermione said, pipping in. "It's obvious to us. The way you look at him says it all."

"It's the same way Sage looks at food," Riley said with a giggle.

"It's the same way Harry looks at you sometimes," Hermione said to me more seriously. I stopped pruning the bush I was on, taking a moment to think to myself. Is it sad that other people can clearly see how I feel when I don't even know myself? I never denied the fact I could fall in love with Harry, but I'm so confused as to where I am now. And he looks at me the same way sometimes? I could imagine myself falling for Harry, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine him falling in love with me too.

Movement from outside caught my attention leaving my thoughts to my mind. Outside the greenhouse I spotted Harry walking quickly towards class.

"Guys, Harry's coming back. Can we please keep this between us? Well, and whoever else apparently can interpret my feelings just by the looks I give people. I'm not sure how I feel, and I don't want Harry to catch whiff of those feelings until I'm one hundred percent sure myself," I said quickly looking from Hermione and Riley to the fast approaching Harry. My two friends nodded and turned their attention back to their Flutterby's, feigning that the conversation we just had ever happened.

"Hermione," Harry said quietly as he entered the greenhouse uttering a hurried apology to Professor Sprout as he passed her. "Stephanie - I need your help."

"What d'you think we've been trying to do, Harry?" Hermione replied, her eyes round with anxiety over the top of the quivering Flutterby Bush she was pruning.

"Guys, I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon."

And so, we practiced. Hermione and Harry headed towards an empty classroom while I went to the Great Hall to retrieve lunch for us. When I returned with a few PB&J's stuffed into my purse, Harry hadn't made any progress. The books and quills he tried summoning kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping like stones to the floor.

"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate..." Hermione said slowly

"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" Harry said angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason...Okay, try again..."

Harry wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing, but Hermione and I refused point-blank to skive off Arithmancy. Slightly disgruntled, Harry agreed to go back to class and meet after dinner; there was no point in staying and practicing by himself.

We shoveled down some dinner after class, then returned to the empty classroom using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid teachers. We kept practicing until past midnight. I started in trying to help Harry acquire the spell by practicing it myself. It probably didn't help Harry's nerves that I learned it by 11:30 that night. After receiving a few begrudged and envious looks from Harry I backed off at stood with Hermione, trying to help Harry rather than compete with him.

We would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room. We left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.

At two o'clock in the morning, Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour had he really got the hang of the Summoning Charm. Hermione and I were slumped together on the couch, slightly lethargic but still willing to help.

"That's better, Harry, that's loads better," Hermione said, looking exhausted but very pleased.

"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, throwing a rune dictionary back to us so he could try again, "threaten me with a dragon. Right..." He raised his wand once more. "Accio Dictionary!"

The heavy book soared out of Hermione's hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it.

"Harry, I really think you've got it!" I said delightedly.

"Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds..."

"That doesn't matter," said Hermione firmly." Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Harry, we'd better get some sleep...you're going to need it."

"At least try and get some shut eye," I said while standing up and giving him a quick peck on the cheek before retreating to my dorm.

That night, I actually slept fairly well. It was a serene, calm, dreamless sleep. Maybe the fact that Harry actually had some sort of game plan eased my nerves. The next morning, however, I remembered what was to come this afternoon, and all those nerves multiplied and came crashing into me. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure - though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there.

Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops. History of Magic past by much faster than the history of which we were learning. Even Ancient Runes, which always seemed to drag on with the runes and terms we were working on sped by. The next thing I knew, it seemed, Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to us in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching.

"Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now...You have to get ready for your first task."

"Okay," Harry said standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter.

"Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"

"Yeah," Harry said in a distant voice. Before McGonagall could drag Harry away, I stood up and gave him a reassuring hug.

"You'll do great, Harry. You'll pass the task with flying colours. No pun intended," I added with a small smile. I saw the corners of Harry's mouth turn up in a smile before returning to his nervous and unsure look.

"Thanks." He gave me a quick kiss before following McGonagall out to the grounds.

While the first half of the morning seemed to fly by in a snap, the rest of the lunch hour crawled on slower than a sloth. By the time I had returned to my dorm and changed into my own style of clothes, rather than a school uniform, the rest of the school was making their way to the stadium where the task would be held. As I walked I was joined by more and more friends, our group eventually consisting of Jennifer, Suze, Riley, Sage, Alexa, Hermione, and even Ron. We passed a tent adjacent to the enclosure, where I was sure the Champions were gathered before their moment of truth. My heart ached slightly, knowing that Harry stood just on the other side. I wanted desperately to run into the tent, disregarding the fact that I probably wasn't allowed in there, and hug and kiss Harry one more time before the Task. I turned my head back to the front and continued towards the stands, listening to my brain rather than my heart.

The eight of us took seats in the middle of the stands, slightly off the the right of where the Champions would enter the enclosure, one by one. Alexa stood to my right and Jennifer my left. I leaned up against the railing, taking deep, calming breaths as I did. No doubt Harry was doing something similar; taking measures to compose himself before his moment of truth.

The crowd was already talkative, cheering and chanting for their favorite Champion; however, they quieted down as Ludo Bagman's voice spread over the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, professors, students, and spectators alike, welcome to the first of three exciting tasks for the 2002 Triwizard Tournament! You're in for a real treat this afternoon. Each Champion must face their dragon in order to retrieve a golden egg, without which they will be unable to proceed to the next task. Each Champion will be facing their own breed of dragon, making for different obstacles for each contestant.

"The order goes as such. Mr. Diggory of Hogwarts will face his dragon first; the Swedish Short-Snout. Following him will be Miss Delacour of Beauxbatons. She shall be facing her dragon, which is a Common Welsh Green. The third Champion shall be Mr. Krum of Durmstrang and his dragon, the Chinese Fireball. Last, but certainly not least, concluding today's task shall be Mr. Potter of Hogwarts and his dragon, the Hungarian Horntail."

My mouth and throat suddenly became very dry. Oh great, I thought, Harry has to battle the fiercest, most bad ass dragon we saw in the woods. Alexa took a hold of my hand and squeezed it in a sisterly fashion.

"Let me introduce to you the lovely panel of judges that shall be judging today's event. Each Headmaster from each participating school is seated to my left. Professor Albus Dumbledore, Professeur Madam Maxime, and Professor Igor Karkaroff. Joining them shall be Mr. Barty Crouch Sr, and myself, your wonderful commentator, Ludo Bagman."

The crowd cheered as Ludo took his seat and the dragon keepers, who were standing off to the side, started moving towards an entrance off to the left side. They returned only moments later with Cedric's dragon. Crouch blew a whistle, signaling Cedric it was time.

I payed barely enough attention to the first three champions to talk about what they did to obtain their egg. Cedric transformed a rock into a dog, hoping the dragon would be distracted. It took the bait and left it's post long enough for Cedric to get the egg. Halfway through, however, the dragon changed it's mind and went back to Cedric, burning is face. He did, however, pass the task. Fleur enchanted her dragon to sleep, but while retrieving the golden egg, the dragon snored and let out a jet of flame that set her skirt alight. She extinguished the flames, and retrieved her egg. He used the Conjunctivitis Curse to blind the dragon and retrieve his egg. However, he was docked points when the dragon stumbled around and smashed half of the real eggs.

I took a few deep breaths as Crouch blew the whistle a final time, signaling Harry who walked slowly into the enclosure. He stood there for a moment, taking everything in. The arena, the cheering fans, the fans who wanted him to fail, and the large, menacing dragon perched off to the side. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and raised his wand

"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted.

I stood their waiting, every fiber of my being hoping, praying that it had work.I And then I heard it, speeding through the air behind Harry; I looked up into the sky and saw his Firebolt hurtling toward the arena. It stopped next to him in mid air just waiting for him to mount. He swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground.

As he soared into the sky, I saw something miraculous happen. The look of sheer anxiety and fright he'd been sporting vanished. He was actually smiling, honest to God, joyfully smiling. I wonder if that's the kind of smile he gets when he looks/thinks about me? I bit my lip to keep my own smile in as I looked back up to Harry.

He dived. The Horntail's head followed him; he pulled out of the dive just in time as a jet of fire was released exactly where he would have been had he not swerved away. I grabbed Alexa's hand and held onto it with all my might.

"Great Scott, he can fly!" Bagman yelled as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"

Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck. Maybe if he kept it up long enough the dragon would get dizzy and faint. Wait, can dragon's faint?

Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky - he missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes -

I gasped suddenly, bringing my free hand up to my mouth. Alexa cupped my hand with both of hers, gasping at is injury too.

Despite the lesions on his shoulder, he began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire to stave him off, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared...

He flew higher. The Horntail's head rose with him, her neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying, hike a snake before its charmer...

Harry rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat; her tail thrashed again, but he was too high to reach now...She shot fire into the air, which he dodged...Her jaws opened wide...

And then she reared, spreading her great, black, leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small airplane - and Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed front legs - he had taken his hands off his Firebolt - he had seized the golden egg -

And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm. I slackened my grip on Alexa's and breathed a sigh of relief, a huge smile taking permanent residence on my face.

"L is for the way you look at me. O is for the only one I see. V is very, very extraordinary. E is even more than anyone that you adore can," Jennifer sang airily. I didn't object, argue, or rebuttal anything in return as I felt my heart expand five times larger than my cardiac cavity's capacity, a permanent sense of goosebumps spreading across my skin. I knew it was true; I had fallen in love with Harry.

"Stephanie," Hermione said two persons over from me. "Ron and I are going to see Harry in the First Aid tent. Do you want to go see him too?" Rather than verbally saying anything, I started exiting the stands as fast as I could, my enormous smile answering the question. I walked as fast as I could without looking suspicious or running, Ron and Hermione a small distance behind me. I entered the tent first, a good fifteen seconds before either Ron or Hermione, flinging my arms around Harry as soon as I spotted him.

"You were brilliant! I told you you would be! You were by far the best of the four, possibly even the best champion _ever_!" I said while hugging him tight.

"Stephanie, Stephanie, calm down. It's alright. I'm alright. Just breathe," he said while pulling apart slightly to look at me.

"I'm just...so glad you're okay. I'm so proud of you," I said, smiling. He returned my smile before I leaned in and kissed him. I wanted to tell him desperately how I felt, but refrained. He just got done battling a terrifying dragon. Ron would probably apologize for being an arse. I figured I should wait a little before sharing these feelings.

"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione said hurriedly as she entered the tent. I pulled back from Harry, standing next to him and holding his hand. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. How had I not noticed those before? Oh ya, I was feeling the joy of falling in love. "You were amazing! You really were!

But Harry was looking at Ron, who was very white and staring at Harry as though he were a ghost.

"Harry," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet - I - I reckon they're trying to do you in!"

It was as though the last few weeks had never happened - as though they were meeting for the first time after Harry's name came out of the cup.

"Caught on, have you?" said Harry coldly. "Took you long enough."

Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly. Harry knew Ron was about to apologize and suddenly he found he didn't need to hear it.

"It's okay," he said, before Ron could get the words out. "Forget it."

"No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've -"

"Forget it, "Harry said.

Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back. Hermione, however, burst into tears.

"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, bewildered.

"You two are so stupid!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front. Then, before either of them could stop her, she had given both of them a hug and dashed away, now positively howling.

"Barking mad," said Ron, shaking his head. "Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores..." Ron relayed a play by play of what each champion did to defeat their dragon, explaining it as well as I did. Across the enclosure you could see all five of the judges in raised seats draped in gold. The first person to give their marks was Maxime. She shot her wand into the air, a long silver ribbon shooting out of it, which twisted into a large seven. Crouch was next, shooting a large nine into the air. Dumbledore, Bagman, and Karkaroff finished off the with their scores; Nine, _ten_, and four.

"What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "_Four_? You lousy, biased scum-bag, you gave Krum ten!"

But from the look on Harry's face, I don't think he cared. I think the fact that Ron was talking to him friendly again was enough to satisfy him. He may not have even cared if every judge gave him zeros, or even a few negatives. I squeezed his hand again and kissed his cheek quickly.

"I'll let you two spend some time together. I'll see you later." I walked off, leaving the two best friends together again. I walked away feeling weightless. I met back up with Jennifer, Suze, Riley, and Hermione, all of whom were looking at me with great curiosity.

"So," Riley said, smiling as she did.

"So what?" I said a bit breathlessly.

"Feeling...different? Any self realizations you've discovered?" Suze poked.

"Yeah," I breathed again. "I'm in love with Harry." The four girls squealed girlishly and hugged me, congratulating me as they did.

"But," I started, inturupting their dances of joy. "He doesn't know."

"He doesn't know?" They all asked in unison.

"I didn't think now was the right time to tell him. Let the feeling of the First Task die down a little. The next task isn't for three whole months. I'll tell him before then."

**A/N: Hey everybody! I hope you all like my stories :) I noticed my hits/views seemed to explode in the last few days, which is great! Makes me feel like I'm flying. Perhaps much like Stephanie feels when she looks at Harry? Naaah, I keed. You're sudden fascination helped make this chapter come out in record time; three days! Nooooow, if you really want a new chapter soon, I would love it if I could get a few reviews out of you. Thanks a lot for reading :))))))**


	14. Are You Really That Thick, Harry?

**A/N So my last chapter got a bunch of hits! Well...when I first posted it. But no reviews! Come on guys, if you read and like my story, please, **_**please**_**, write a nice little review of my story. Just to make me happy :) Thanksgiving break is just a day away, so hopefully I'll be able to add a new chapter by the end of this week. So PLEASE, review! Enjoy**

* * *

The feeling after the First Task was splendid. Everything seemed to go back to normal. After seeing the Task, people didn't dare believe that Harry had entered himself. There wasn't any anxiety from either Harry or myself, which was calming. The next task wasn't for months, next year, technically. Who knew what the Second Task would entail?

At Harry's celebration party Fred and George threw for him after the task, everyone kept asking and asking for him to open his egg. Harry agreed, much to Hermione's displeasure.

"He's suppose to work out the clue on his own," she protested. "It's the Tournament rules..."

"I was suppose to figure out those dragons on my own, too," Harry whispered only loud enough for Hermione and I to hear, the two of use smiling guiltily. He dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and prised it open. It was hollow and completely empty - but the moment Harry opened it, a horrible, screeching, wail burst from the egg, filling the room. The closest thing I'd heard to that was the screaming Phoebe did when she had been turned into a banshee.

"Shut it!" Fred bellowed, his hands over his ears.

"What was that?" Seamus said, staring at the egg as Harry slammed it shut again. "Sounded like a banshee...Maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!" Seems like I'm not the only one on the banshee page.

"It was someone being tortured!" said Neville, who had gone very white and spilled sausage rolls all over the floor. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal," said George. "They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions. I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing...maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower, Harry." This earned a laugh from everyone paying attention, the laughter filling the room and erasing any leftovers from the egg. Harry hid his egg in the bottom of his trunk and didn't open it the rest of the day. The rest of the week, in fact. The Tournament seemed to leave everyone's mind. The only indication that this year was any different were the Beauxbataon and Durmstrang students seen roaming the grounds and halls.

The first reminder didn't come until one Thursday in December. The fourth year Gryffindors were seated in Transfiguration, anxiously waiting for the bell to ring to send us on break.

"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?"

Professor McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whip through class, causing both of them to jump.

Boys, I thought. They both had finished their work; the guinea fowl they had been changing into guinea pigs had been shut away in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk (Neville's still had feathers). They had copied down their homework from the blackboard (_"Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches"_}. Harry and Ron, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands at the back of the class, looked up, Ron holding a tin parrot and Harry, a rubber haddock.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," Professor McGonagall said, with an angry look at the pair of them as the head of Harry's haddock drooped and fell silently to the floor - Ron's parrot's beak had severed it moments before - "I have something to say to you all.

"The Yule Ball is approaching - a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above - although you may invite a younger student if you wish -"

Lavender let out a shrill giggle. Parvati nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle. They both looked around at Harry, and giggled some more. I narrowed my eyes at the pair of them telling them to back off. They turned back around, getting my message.

"Gentlemen will wear dress robes. Ladies may wear formal dresses. Nothing _too _scandalous, if you please," Professor McGonagall continued. "The ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Eve, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then -"

Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class.

"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to - er - let our hair down," she said, in a disapproving voice.

Lavender giggled harder than ever, her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound. The thought of Professor McGonagall letting her hair down and 'party hardy'-ing was humorous. With her hair in a tight bun, she looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.

"But that does _not _mean," Professor McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way."

The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders.

Professor McGonagall called above the noise, "Potter - a word, if you please." I stopped and looked at him, figuring it was probably because of the tom foolery the two boys were causing.

"I'll meet you in the Common Room," I said, giving his cheek a quick peck. "Good luck." I nodded to McGonagall who stood at her desk, waiting. I packed up the rest of my things and exited class quickly as McGonagall followed me with her eyes. I ran to catch up with Jennifer and Suze, both of whom were talking fast about the ball.

"I'm so excited," Suze chimed. "We have so much to do in two weeks! We need our nails done, our hair, shoes, jewelry, dresses, and of course _dates_."

"Calm down, girl," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "We'll get all of that done on time. We have another Hogsemede trip this weekend, we can do some shopping then."

"Right. But we still needs dates! I have no idea who I'm going to ask first," Suze said, looking off into space as if looking at her own personal list of boys.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not asking anybody," I said with a sly smile.

"What?" Jennifer asked, shocked. "Not even-"

"Nope. _He's _going to ask me. I think the guy should ask the girl. It's traditional." I smiled to myself at the thought of Harry and I dancing, smiling, laughing and kissing. Prom's suppose to be the most magical night in any teenagers life. And this Yule Ball was sort of like prom, right? Except for wizards. And maybe, if the mood was right enough, I'd tell Harry I loved him. And maybe, just maybe, he might tell me the same thing.

Harry didn't ask me at all the rest of the day. In fact, he didn't ask me Friday, Saturday, or Sunday; days went by without an mention of us going as dates. Each day that passed made my hear ache a little more. At first I thought he was waiting for a perfect moment to ask me, you know, something cute and sweet. But does it really take a week to plan something extravagant? Well, it probably does, but does it take that long to ask a girl to a dance? Well, maybe in Harry's case, but I started doubting so when he would talk about genuinely _not _having a date to the Ball. Girls would come up to him and ask and he'd turn them down. But it still didn't seem like he had any plan in that thick head of his.

~xx~

On Wednesday afternoon, Harry walked me to my Ancient Runes class, just like he did every day. As we stood outside the class, a boy from my Arithmany class approached us.

"Hello, Stephanie," he said.

"Hi," I said. His name wasn't immediately popping into my mind for two reasons. One: he's in the year above me, and two: he's a Slytherin. "Cyrus,right?"

"Yes. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the ball with me?" he said without acknowledging Harry at all.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to say no."

"Really? How much better does it get than an older, extremely popular, handsome guy? Who are you waiting for to ask you, this squib?" he said, gesturing to Harry mockingly. "He's never gonna pluck up the courage and ask you. I'm surprised he had the courage to ask you out. Wait, let me guess, you asked him?" He turned and walked away laughing. I turned and looked at Harry expectantly and hopeful.

"Well...is there anything you'd like to ask me?" I asked, tyring to pull the question out of him. It reminded me of Arthur trying to pull Xcaliber out of the stone. I wonder which was harder: asking a girl, your girlfriend none the less, to a dance or pulling a sword out of a stone? Probably the later.

"Uhm...I'll see you after class," he said quickly as the bell rang. He gave my cheek a quick peck, and leaving my side just as fast. I stood there for seconds, stunned, before walking into class slowly.

Professor Smith had given us a few simple runes to translate before giving us the rest of the period off, (she was much nicer than her husband, Snape.) I sat by and listened to Susanne and Rachel Evans, a shockingly nice Slytherin girl, although she wasn't very favorable to Harry, gush about who they were taking to the ball and what dresses they each were wearing. Thankfully the two of them seemed quite enthralled with their own conversations and didn't feel the need to draw me in; I wasn't in the mood to talk. It wouldn't have mattered, even though I had a dress, a beautiful one mind you, I still didn't have a date.

The ball was a week and a day away, and I was starting to get nervous. I couldn't believe Harry hadn't asked me yet. He had the courage; _he _was the one who asked _me _out. Sure I did have to kiss him to get him to believe I liked him back, but that's besides the point. We were already a couple, you'd think you wouldn't be that nervous to ask your girlfriend to a dance. Or was he really that thick that it didn't occur to him that boyfriends usually asked their girlfriends to these sort of soirées? Well, unless their relationship is in the dumps. Not being asked to a dance by your boyfriend/girlfriend is a clear sign the relationship is going downhill, most likely about to be terminated.  
I really didn't want to, but maybe I would have to ask him to the ball myself. It's not that I was so stubborn and _had _to have him ask me, but that was the tradition I wanted to keep. But, I guess I was afraid of being rejected. That's also partly the reason I hadn't told him _I love you _yet. I was afraid that he hadn't reached that point yet, and maybe never would. I didn't want to scare him off and lose our friendship. While I would be devastated if we broke up because he _didn't _love me, we would still remain friends. Sure it would hurt everyday, but I think not having _any _interaction would be more painful.  
I guess I could see why Harry was stalling asking me, if he even thought about asking me, once I thought about it. True, we were already dating; that fear of rejection had already been crossed out. But maybe he was battling the same 'I love you but don't want to ruin things'. I guess I would never know until I told him.  
I took a deep breath, my heart racing slightly as I made my decision; I would tell Harry I loved him at the Yule Ball, regardless of any nay-saying emotions.

~xx~

After our final class on Friday, and our last class before term ended, the four of us were lounging around in different parts of the Common Room. Ron was seated at a table building a house of cards with his Exploding Snap pack - apparently a much more interesting pastime than with Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would blow up at any second. Hermione was seated across from him, looking over her Potion's notes. Harry sat in an armchair reading _Flying with the Cannons_, while I was sprawled out all across the couch directly in front of the fire reading my _Seventeen _magazine Phoebe had sent me. I wasn't actually the only one on the couch. Jennifer's little sister, Rose, had asked for her help on her History of Magic homework Binns had assigned her year over break, and the two of them were seated next to each other with my legs lying on top of them both.

"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked as he and Fred sat down at the table with Ron and Hermione. I guess their presence startled Ron, because as he placed two more cards on his pyramid, the whole thing collapsed and exploded, singing his eyebrows. "Nice look, Ron...go well with your dress robes, that will."

"Shove off. No, you can't borrow him, he's off delivering a letter," Ron said, "why?"

"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," Fred said sarcastically.

"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," George said.

"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" Ron asked.

"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too," Fred said, waving his wand threateningly. "So...you lot got dates for the ball yet?"

"Nope," Harry, Ron, and I said together.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," Fred said.

"Who're you going with, then?" Ron asked defiantly.

"Angelina," Fred said promptly, without a trace of embarrassment.

"What?" Ron said, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"

"Good point," Fred said. He turned his head and called across the common room, "Oi! Angelina!"

Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia Spinnet near the fire, looked over at him.

"What?" she called back.

"Want to come to the ball with me?"

Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look.

"All right, then," she said, and she turned back to Alicia and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face.

"There you go," Fred said to Harry and Ron, "piece of cake."

He got to his feet, yawning, and said, "We'd better use a school owl then, George, come on..."

They left. Ron stopped feeling his eyebrows and looked across the smoldering wreck of his card castle at Harry.

"We should get a move on, you know...ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls."

Hermione let out a sputter of indignation.

"A pair of...what, excuse me?"

"Well - you know," said Ron, shrugging. "I'd rather go alone than with - with Eloise Midgen, say."

"Her acne's loads better lately - and she's really nice!"

"Her nose is off-center," said Ron.

"Oh I see," Hermione said, bristling. "So basically, you're going to take the best-looking girl who'll have you, even if she's completely horrible?"

"Er - yeah, that sounds about right," said Ron.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione snapped, and she swept off toward the girls' staircase without another word. I remained lying on the couch, rereading the same article about Brittany Spears several times over, waiting to see if Harry would ask me tonight or not.

I sighed inwardly after minutes of silence, figuring I'd just have to ask him myself this weekend. I definitely wouldn't let this go on until the night before. (You think no one waits until the night before a dance to ask someone to be their date, but they do. I have a story to share, but I'll tell it at the bottom of the page*). I closed my magazine and stood up off the couch, taking my legs off Jennifer and Rose's laps, and walked up to my dorm without saying a word.

As I lay down on my bed, a thought accrued to me.

"Hermione, do you think Harry hasn't asked me to the ball yet because I look like a troll?"

"What? That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard, and I read over Ron's essays," Hermione said while sitting on my bed with me. "What makes you think that?"

"Harry and Ron are best friends, obviously, so they should share some common interests an ideas. So what if that's one of them; he'd rather take someone completely horrible but good looking rather than a troll, and that's the reason he hasn't asked me to the ball. He thinks I look like a troll."

"Stephanie, listen to me when I say this. This is coming from me, your best friend," Hermione said while sitting on my bed and taking my hands. "You are a beautiful person, inside and out, which isn't a common occurrence. You have nothing to be insecure about. Harry's always been shy and nervous around girls. He really likes you, which would make him more nervous now. He will ask you, I promise."

I smiled big before pulling Hermione into a hug. "Thanks, Mione. I'm just being-"

"Skeptical, again. As usual," Hermione said, rolling her eyes as she did.

The next morning

"I'm going to go for a walk up to the owlery. Would you like to join me?" Harry asked, sitting on the arm of my chair. I closed my book and looked over at Hermione who seemed to be thinking the same thing as me. A private walk? Just the two of us? Definitely sounds like an opportunity for a certain someone, a hem Harry, to ask another certain someone, a moi, to be their date.

I stood up and took his hand with a smile, my way of answering 'yes'. The two of us walked up towards the Owlery, huddled close together to keep warm from the frigid wind and snow. We stopped just inside the top of the stairs, enjoying the slight raise in temperature.

"Stephanie," Harry started, pausing, "do you mind if I ask you something?"

I swallowed and looked up, nodding for him to proceed. If he wasn't about to ask me, I'd probably break down crying, and there'd be no way to hide it; the tears would freeze to my face before I could wipe them away. I'd probably pitch myself off the side of the tower to save myself any embarrassment.

"I was just wondering if...if you'd...like to go to the ball...with me...as my...date," Harry said, pausing every other word to take a breath. While I had joined Harry on this walk, expecting, or at least hoping, this would happen, it still seemed to shock me. Heat rose into my cheeks, causing them to sting. No one would ask if I was blushing, they'd just suspect it was the cold air.

"_Finally_!" I said with a huge, giddy smile as I jumped on Harry and hugged him. "Of course I'll be your date to the ball. I was starting to get worried that you might just show up without a date at all."

"What? You knew I was planning on asking you? Why didn't you just ask and save me all these nerves?"

"I _thought _you might ask. I had no for sure idea. Most of the time it seemed like everyone was speaking Portuguese to you and you were expected to reply back in the same language."

"It felt like it half the time. We were obviously too young to have dances before Hogwarts, and it's not like the Dursley's had me grow up watching _90210_. This whole dance, dating, couple thing is new to me."

"Lucky for you," I said while taking his arm, "I _did _grow up watching _90210_." The two of us laughed as Harry wrapped his arms around me. I closed my eyes and breathed in, loving the feeling of being wrapped in his arms.

"Oh, hey. There's something I need to ask you, too," I said while pulling back to look at him.

"Go on."

"Well, my aunts were wondering if you would like to spend a few days of break at our house with us," I said biting my lip nervously.

"I thought we were staying here for holiday break because of the ball?" Harry said confused.

"Harry. My sisters and I are _witches_. We can go back and forth between here and home without apparating, Floo Powder, or even flying cars," I said while slapping his arm playfully. "If you wanted to come, we'd leave Friday morning and stay until term starts, or sooner than that. My sisters have told them we're kind of a 'hot item', and they say they want to officially meet you.".

"Uhm ya. Ya, okay. I'd love to spend the rest of Christmas holiday with you and your family," Harry replied.

"Really? That's great! They'll be so happy to hear. I'll mail them now." I said while taking out an already addressed and sealed envelope.

"You already wrote the letter saying I'd be coming?" Harry asked, looking at me perplexed?.

"Sort of. I wrote two; one saying you'd be coming and one saying you wouldn't," I said simply, attaching my letter to Anthea's leg. I watched her fly away, and walked back over to Harry, who was still looking at me humorously.

"What?" I asked sarcastically. Harry said nothing back, but just chuckled to himself as he pulled me close as we braved the icy air.

* * *

*Right, story time! Okay, so freshman year, I had math class with a friend from church who I hadn't seen in years. He was a junior, btw. So all year we'd kind of talk and goof off, but around prom time, I guess he got the wrong idea. He texts me, the Friday night before prom, asking me if I want to go as his date. I'm just like...are you for real? One, you're kind of creepy. My friend, but creepy. And you don't just ask a girl to prom the night before. If I should have said yes, I would have needed a dress, shoes, hair, nails, dinner, all things you _can't_get the night before. Just thought I'd share this little story with you :)


	15. The Yule Ball

**A/N Guess what time it is? No, not adventure time or summer time. It's time for the Yule Ball :) Oh, and ahead of time, I suck at describing clothes. Here's a link to see the girls' dresses. Y'all know what Hermione wears, if not, go watch Goblet of Fire. Flickr(dot)com/photos/xxmisscradeyxx (sorry if the address was missing earlier :)) )**

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Now that that dunderhead of a boyfriend Harry had finally asked me to be his date, my restless state of mind was calm. Despite the very heavy load of homework that the fourth years had been given for the holidays, I was in no mood to do homework. Was I ever? Instead I spent the rest of the week leading up to Christmas Eve enjoying my free time as much as humanly possible. I had a perfect dress and date, and was bristling with excitement for Thursday night.

Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savory puddings, and only Fleur Delacour seemed to be able to find anything to complain about.

"It is too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food," we heard her saying grumpily as they left the Great Hall behind her one evening. Ron had been skulking behind Harry, keen not to be spotted by Fleur. Word is the same day Harry asked me to the ball, Ron had asked Fleur. Or, rather screamed at her. It was tragically hilarious. Ron had been sulky and gloomy when anyone mentioned the dance. "I will not fit into my dress!"

"Oooh there's a tragedy," Hermione snapped as Fleur went out into the entrance hall. "She really thinks a lot of herself, that one, doesn't she?"

"Come on now, Mione. Give her the benefit of the doubt. Fitting into our dresses _is_ important. I mean, I'm not stressing about it, but if my zipper doesn't zip up snugly, I'm going to have a total BF," I said in all seriousness, but with a hint of humor.

"Hermione - who are you going to the ball with?" said Ron. He kept springing this question on her, hoping to startle her into a response by asking it when she least expected it. However, Hermione merely frowned and said, "I'm not telling you, you'll just make fun of me."

"You're joking, Weasley!" said Malfoy, behind them. "You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?"

"Scram, Malfoy," Harry said hostilely.

"Don't worry, Potter. I'm not here to hit on your pathetic excuse for a girlfriend. I've got myself a hot ticket for the ball. We'll try to steer clear of you two, y'know, as to not stir any jealousy," Draco said while turning and leaving.

"Hermione," Ron said, looking sideways at her, suddenly frowning, "your teeth..."

"What about them?" she said.

"Well, they're different...I've just noticed..."

"Of course they are - did you expect me to keep those fangs Malfoy gave me?"

"No, I mean, they're different to how they were before he put that hex on you...They're all...straight and - and normal-sized."

Hermione smiled mischievously and looked over at me.

"Well...when I went up to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up a mirror and told me to stop her when they were back to how they normally were," she said. "And I just...let her carry on a bit." She smiled even more widely. "Mum and Dad won't be too pleased. I've been trying to persuade them to let me shrink them for ages, but they wanted me to carry on with my braces. You know, they're dentists, they just don't think teeth and magic should mix."

"I don't blame you for not wanting to go back to braces. Four years of being a metal mouth..." I said, shuddering at the memory. "If I could have chosen magic, I would have."

The days leading up to Christmas Eve and the ball seemed to come and go in a flash. In no time at all, I found myself waking up on Thursday morning, the ball only twelve short hours away. Hermione and I met up with Harry and Ron in the Common Room, and we went down to breakfast together. We spent most of the morning in Gryffindor Tower, where everyone was raving about the dance tonight, and enjoying early presents the had received, then returned to the Great Hall for a magnificent lunch, which included at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, and large piles of Cribbage's Wizarding Crackers.

In the afternoon we headed out to the grounds; the snow was untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle. Harry, Ron, and I dicided to join in on Fred and George's snowball fight, while Hermione chose to sit by and watch.

At four o'clock, Hermione called out to me that we needed to go in and get ready.

"What, you need four hours?" said Ron, looking at her incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head. "Who're you going with?" he yelled after Hermione, but she just waved as we disappeared up the stone steps into the castle.

Hermione and I, well mostly me, had a group planned to get together and do each others hair, nails, and make-up before the ball actually started. Inside of our dorm we found both of my sisters, Jennifer, Suze, and Riley waiting for us with garment bags and bags full of make-up and hair accessories. Suze and Sage offered to do our nails. While we waited for them to finish and our nails to dry, we gushed about who we were taking as our dates.

"We all know who Stephie's going with," Sage said as she catered to Hermione's nails. "Harry. No surprises there."

"Who are you taking then, Sage?" I asked while my nails dried.

"A Durmstrang boy, Asen," she replied with a smile. "What about the rest of you lot?"

"I'm going with Collin Allen, he's a sixth year Ravenclaw," Alexa chimed.

"Darren James. 5th year Hufflepuff," Suze said.

"Micheal Spokes. 6th year Hufflepuff," Jennifer said.

"A _sixth year_? Way to go for older men," Riley said with a sarcastic smile.

"Who are you taking then? Or rather who's taking you, since you are only a third year?" Jennifer prodded.

"Uhm...Draco," Riley said quietly to the ground.

"_Malfoy_?" the rest of us shouted looking at her incredulously.

"Yes. He's really not that bad once you get to know him. He can be a real gentleman and kind at times. I'll admit, he does have a dangerous side, and it thrills me," Riley said while heat rose into her cheeks slightly.

"Well, as long as you're happy with your date, I am, too," I said while patting her shoulder.

"You still haven't told us who you're going with, Hermione," Sage pointed out. Hermione turned just about as red as Riley just had, before she replied.

"Viktor. Viktor...Krum," she whispered. The other four girls gushed and sang with jealousy while Hermione sat by, smiling and blushing like mad.

After our nails were done, Alexa did the make-up for those we were cosmetically challenged while the rest of us did our own, and Riley, who was just as talented with a curling iron as she was a wand, did our hair. Most of the other girls ended up with simple updos, while I was given something more...outgoing. Riley had braided a section of my hair and pinned it so it lied on my head like a headband, just above where my bangs were. The rest of my hair she curled the rest, pinning sections here and there so the curls cascaded down my head onto my shoulders.

All of our dresses were gorgeous. Jennifer wore a red, sweetheart strapless dress. Sage had a short blue dress, also sweetheart strapless. The top of her dress was a dark bluish black with a blue waist belt, with the skirt poofy and blue. Riley's dress was a short, dark raspberry dress with her straps hanging off her shoulders. Her dress wasn't as short as Sage's, whose dress came about an inch or so above her knee. Instead, Riley's dress hung just a few inches below her knee. Alexa's dress was a dark, navy bluish black, with strapless again. The chest and waist were tight fitting, but the rest of her dress poofed out from her hips.

Hermione's dress was gorgeous, too. Her neck was also a sweetheart neck, but she had short silky sleeves attached. Her whole dress was a light, baby pink, and her skirt ruffled here and there. Suze and I seemed to have gotten similar, if not the same, dresses in two different colours. Both dresses had sweetheart necklines, a popular trend, I guess. Both dresses had waist belt in corresponding colours, and poofed out slightly. The only real difference was Suze's dress was orange and mine was purple.

When all if us were dolled up and polished, we made our way down the stairs, carefully, as to not trip over on our shoes. The rest of the girls left straight for the hall, seeing as I was the only one whose date was actually in my house. I scanned the common room filled with dressed up boys and girls, looking for my dressed up boy. I sighed with defeat when I couldn't find him, and decided I'd go down to the hall and wait for him.

In the hall there were only more boys and girls dressed up in their Sunday finest. Despite the large crowd, I seemed to spot Harry immediately. He was standing near the giant oak door to the Great Hall with Ron and Padma. As I descended the stairs, I noticed Ron tap on Harry's shoulder and point up the stairs to me. He turned around and locked eyes on me. I could feel heat rising slowly in my cheeks as Harry's face slowly turned into a bright smile.

"You...you look...beautiful, Stephanie," Harry said slowly, taking all of my outfit in. I smiled too, my cheeks starting to really sting now.

"Thanks. You look handsome yourself," I said, still blushing madly. I looked over at Ron and frowned. "Uhm, you look...nice, Ron." He scowled before taking Padma's hand and hurrying into the hall.

"What the heck is he wearing? Did he skin a bear and fashion the fur into his dress robes?" I asked turning to Harry.

"No," Harry said with a chuckle. "He actually cut off some of the lace before we came down here."

"There was _more_ lace?" I asked before the two of us broke out into a laughing fit.

"Potter, you and Ms. Cradey are ready, I presume?" Professor McGonagall said as she approached us, breaking up our laughter.

"Er, ready?" I asked confused.

"To dance. It's traditional that the three champions, well in this case four, are the first to dance with their partners as an opening for the ball. Surely he told you that," McGonagall explained.

"No," I said, my eyes widening slightly as I turned to glare at Harry.

"Oh, well, now you know. Mr. Diggory, Ms. Chang," McGonagall said while hurrying off. I turned to Harry, my heart rate increasing slightly.

"You never told me we had to dance. In front of all_ three_ schools."

"It'll be fine, I promise," Harry said as he took my hand and squeezed it. I tried to squeeze back, hoping it would comfort me. It didn't help much. "If anyone has anything to worry about, it's me. I practically have two left feet." I could tell he was trying to make me feel better and lighten the mood, but I couldn't hear anything he said. All I could think about was tripping over my feet and falling flat on my face while the whole school laughed at me.

Once everyone else was settled in the Hall, Professor McGonagall told the champions and their partners to get in line in pairs and to follow her. The first couple was Roger Davies and Fleur, followed by Hermione and Krum, Cho and Cedric, and Harry and I in the back. I clutched onto Harry's arm as the champions and their dates made their way into the Great Hall, everyone applauding us as we entered and started walking up toward the large dance floor in the front.

The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people. Behind the dance floor at the end of the Hall was Flitwick standing in front of an orchestra, ready to conduct. We took our places on the dance floor as Flitwick raised his baton.

"Harry, I don't think I can do this," I whispered nervously. I tried to pull away, but found Harry's hands on my waist pulling me closer.

"It'll be okay, I promise. Just...concentrate on me. Just look right here," Harry said pointing to his eyes. The music started up and we began waltzing. Oh, why did I have to wear such high heels? I asked myself nervously, looking down to make sure I wouldn't trip.

"Hey," Harry whispered quietly to me. I looked up apologetically, forgetting what Harry had said. I felt my skin prickle as our eyes found each others as we continued to dance. The more we twirled and spun together, the more I felt my nerves fade away. Harry lifted me up into a turn and set me back down, a smile on my face. By the time the song had ended, the two of us were smiling and laughing. I hadn't noticed other couples, professors and students, had joined the champions on the dance floor.

"I feel a bit dizzy," I said as the main band, The Weird Sisters, came on stage and started playing. "I think I'm going to sit down."

"I'll join you," Harry said, taking my hand and leading me to a table that seemed as far away from the dance floor as possible, where Ron and Padma were seated. Both of them looked rather disgruntled.

"Rudy pumpkin head. He's really laying it on thick, isn't he?" Ron said sounding a bit jealous, his eyes glued to Hermione and Krum. His eyes were narrowed at the two of them for the better part of the song. "If it wasn't for the books they had I'd go and hide in the library."

The song ended, several couples leaving the dance floor to catch their breath, Hermione and Krum amongst them. They walked past our table a bit before he stopped and turned to her. He said something and kissed her hand before heading off towards the punch bowl. Hermione spun around and sat next to us, the biggest smile I've ever seen in my life glued to her face.

"Hot, isn't it?" she said breathlessly. "Viktor's gone to go get drinks. Would you care to join us?" I turned to answer yes, feeling like I could use a drink after the first dance, when Ron decided he would answer for all of us.

"No, we won't care to join you and Viktor," Ron mocked, aggravated.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" Hermione asked accusingly.

"He's a _Durmstrang_," Ron said, leaning over to talk across Harry and I to Hermione. "You're fraternizing with the enemy."

"The enemy?" Hermione repeated sounding dumbstruck. "Who was it wanting his autograph?" Ron sank back in his seat, not having an answer because she was right.

"The whole point of this tournament is international magical co-operation... to make friends," Hermione said defensively.

"I think he's got a bit more than friendship on his mind," Ron said with a sarcastic snort. Hermione and I turned to look at Ron, slightly disgusted. Even Harry looked at him, shocked at the would ever say such a thing. Well, then again, I guess if you hang out with Fred and George too much...

Hermione stood up and walked away quickly over to Krum, taking her punch from him. The mood had turned awkward and tense. I suddenly remembered the decision I had come to in Ancient Runes, and deiced now was the time to 'make my move', so to speak.

"Harry, I'm going to go for a walk. Care to join?" I asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Er ya, ya I would," Harry said standing up and taking my hand quickly. Pretending we wanted more drinks, Harry and I left Ron and Padma at the table, both of whom were looking unhappy and gloomy. We edged around the dance floor and slipped out into the entrance hall. The front doors stood open, and the fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as they went down the front steps, where they found themselves surrounded by bushes; winding, ornamental paths; and large stone statues. Here and there, people were sitting on carved benches. Several carriages were parked in the all around the courtyard. I was sure I could hear giggling from inside as we passed. Whatever was going on in those carriages was _not_ meant for my ears, or the ears of any teenager, actually. Harry and I stopped by an archway a good distance away from other couples.

"Glad we're out of there. That was...awkward," Harry said once we'd stopped. I nodded in agreement ans shivered, the cold weather not helping my strapless dress situation. "Cold?"

"No, I'm fine," I lied, my body betraying me and shivering again.

"Here," Harry said taking off his robe that doubled as a coat, draping it around my shoulders. I smiled slightly as warmth started spreading through my body, Harry's familiar smell of a wooded forest reaching my nose. "Better?"

"Yes, thanks. Harry, there's...something I need to tell you," I said biting my bottom lip ever so slightly.

"What is it?" Harry asked, looking slightly confused. "You can tell me anything, you know."

"I know I know. I...just wanted to tell you," I started. I can't believe I'm about to tell him this. I paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "Harry, I love you."

We stood there for a few seconds, neither of us saying a word.

"Uh...what?" Harry asked confused. He looked dazed, like I'd just hit him over the head with a frying pan.

"I...I...I love you," I said again. I felt my heart falling lower and lower with each passing second that he didn't answer. "H-Harry?"

He stood there making strange sputtering sounds, like he was trying to speak but couldn't find any words. He...he doesn't feel the same way, I thought to myself slowly. Oh God, why did I decide to tell him? The reason he hadn't asked me to the ball sooner wasn't because he felt the same way, he loved or cared for me just as much and was scared to ruin things. No, he was probably contemplating dumping me! When girls upon girls came up to him asking him to the ball, he must've realized he could get any girl he wanted. He probably wanted someone with a less messed up past than me.

"It's happening again, like before," said an unpleasantly familiar voice. "Soon neither you nor anybody else will be able to deny it." Hearing Karkaroff's voice seemed to make Harry snap back to reality, forgetting everything I had just said. We turned around to the courtyard and saw Snape and Karkaroff. Harry pulled me behind him and hid behind a pillar, a great spot for eavesdropping.

"I told you already, Igor, I see no reason to discuss it," Snape said nonchalantly. He turned his head to a carriage, not too far from where Harry and I were, and ran up to it, blasting the door open. Two teens broke apart, looking morbidly embarrassed.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!" Snape snarled as a girl ran past him, a boy following her. "The same for Hufflepuff, Stebbins."

"It's a sign, Severus! You know it is!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Snape brushed off as he turned to another carriage and checked for any more teens.

"Really? Then you won't mind rolling up your sleeve," Karkaroff said, reaching for Snape's arm. He lifted it up high out of Karkaroff's reach. "Ah-ha. You are scared, Severus."

"I have nothing to be scared off, Igor. Can you say the same?" The two men stared at each other for a moment, neither of them backing down. Karkaroff stepped back and walked away towards Durmstrang's ship. Snape also stalked back to the Great Hall, probably to his dear wife.

Harry turned to head back in when he remembered I was still there and what I had said just before. He opened his mouth to speak, but I shook my head.

"Forget it. C'mon, let's go back in," I said, grabbing his hand and pulling in back inside. As we entered back inside the school, I could hear Ron and Hermione bickering about who knows what. Oh goodness, they're at it..._again_.

"He's using you," Ron said as he and Hermione walked quickly from the Hall.

"How dare you!" Hermione exclaimed "Besides, I can take care of myself."

"Doubt it. He's way too old."

"What? What? That's what you think?"

"Yeah, that's what I think," Ron said as Hermione started chasing him almost.

"You know the solution then don't you?" they had stopped by the stairs in the Entrance Hall.

"Go on."

"Next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage and ask me before somebody else does, and not as a last resort!" Hermione squawked, tears started slowly falling down her face.

"Well... well, that's completely off the point," Ron said, backing up the stairs. Harry and I had come close enough to the two, as Ron spotted us and said, "Harry."

Hermione turned around and saw us walking towards them.

"Where have you been?" she asked, him rather than me, fiercely. Harry was about to answer her when she cut across him. "Never mind, off to bed, both of you!"

Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder and gave Ron a questioning look as he walked towards him. They were both going up the stairs and Ron said loudly on purpose, "They get scarier as they get older, don't they?"

"Ron, you spoil _everything_!" Hermione yelled as she charged up the stairs a little. The two boys ran up the stairs and turned the corner. I could just about hear Harry ask Ron, "What's this about?"

Hermione sat down on the stairs and started crying, pulling of her shoes and rubbing her heels. I walked up the stairs slowly and sat next to her, tears finally starting to dot my face.

"Well, you know what my problem is," she sniffled, nodding her head back up the stairs. "What's wrong with you?"

"I think I ruined everything with Harry," I said, my jaw shaking a little.

"How so?" Hermione asked.

"Well, the two of us went for a walk after your and Ron's first little banter. When we were out there I...I told him I loved him. But he didn't say anything back. In fact he didn't do _anything _as to say he felt the same way. He just stood there and looked dumbfounded at me, like I just revealed I had a tail or something," I said, wiping away a few tears that had made their way all the way down my face. Hermione pulled me into another hug like she had a week ago. "Please tell me this is just him being a boy and nervous around girls, Mione."

"I'm sure it is. Now please, pray tell me why Ronald can be such an _arse_ all the time?" Hermione asked trembling with more tears.

"Hermione Jean Granger!" I said pulling back. "I never thought I'd see the day when you called someone an arse."

"Me neither. But if it was anyone it would definitely be him," she said wiping away her own tears with the back of her hand.

"True. That, my friend, is not a question I can easily answer. For one he's jealous of you and Krum."

"I knew that. That's partly the reason I accepted Viktor's invitation, also the fact that I do like him," Hermione said blushing a bit.

"Like I told Riley, as long as you're happy," I said as Hermione rested her head on my shoulder.

"Boys," she whispered.

"'Boys'."


	16. Christmas Dreams and Nightmares

**A/N: I'm soooooo sorry it's taken me almost a month to update! But I'm done with senior finals and out of school till January! For some reason this chapter took forever to write. Perhaps because it was aaaaall on me! No help from the book at all. Next few chapters are back to book basics, so hopefully I can update again (a few times maybe) before going back to school. Anyways, an early Happy Christmas to all of you! IF you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy Holidays and a happy Thursday :) If you want to see pictures of the gifts Stephanie gets/gives, go to flickr(dot)com/photos/xxmisscradeyxx/sets/72157628532657933/. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review!**

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I woke up Christmas morning, not fully remember what had happened the night before. Not because I had gotten drunk or anything the night before, no. But you know that groggy feeling you sometimes get when you first wake up in the morning and your head is clouded with only the thought of 'more sleep'? Ya, that's what I was feeling.

Once I had told my body it wasn't getting any more sleep, I started feeling things throughout and on my body. My hair was gelled and sore from being pinned and pulled. Fake nails were still stuck on my cuticles. My face was dry and cracked from sleeping in makeup and my feet ached from wearing heels all night. That's when I remembered the Yule Ball.

Oh, God. What was I going to do? Harry hadn't said anything to me after I told him I loved him. I was so lost, I didn't know what to do. I've never told anybody I loved them and then didn't get a response. The only thing remotely close was when I had told a boy in second grade that I was going to marry him; he said girls were icky and pushed me into a sandbox. I needed to get some kind of response from him so I'd know where to go from here. I'll wait until after Christmas at least.

Wait, would he still want to come over for Christmas? What if I had completely scared him off for good? I guess I'll wait and see if he's waiting down in the common room. But first, I gotta wash all this makeup and styling products out.

After I was clean and back to my old self, I packed a bag for the next couple of days and stashed Alexa, Sage, and Harry's presents in another bag. I left to go to the common room to see if anybody, Harry, was waiting down there for me. As I slowly walked down the spiral staircase, I could just imagine seeing absolutely no one sitting in any of the chairs. No one would be awake and in the common room as early as it was, not us brave 'party hardy all night and sleep all day' Gryffindors. I had told Harry my aunts wanted us home at around seven. Sage was upset that, since we weren't coming home earlier for Christmas, we wouldn't get to decorate the tree pleaded and begged with them until they agreed to let us do it when we first got home.

I took the last step down into the common room, my heart sinking. It was completely empty, emptier than a ghost town. The common room was silent except for the sound of snow falling outside. Nobody was awake enough to be sitting around the dying fire; perhaps the entire school was still asleep. I heaved a sigh and threw down my bags. I really had scared him off, I thought as my heart sank lower. Well, I guess there's no point in moping around here. Maybe putting up and decorating the tree with my sisters would make me feel better.

I picked my bags back up, ready to orb home depressed, when I heard one of the dormitory doors open up behind me. I turned around to see who would be coming down the stairs, my face lighting up when I saw Harry and his own packed bag standing in front of me.

"Ready?" he asked, as if almost nothing had happened the night before. I wasn't sure if I should be happy about that or not.

"Yeah," I replied, shifting one of my bags to the other side so I could take his free hand.

"Here," he said, taking the bag from me as I struggled with it. I smiled and whispered my thanks before grabbing his right hand with my left and orbing us home.  
As we landed in the living room, I was immediately assaulted by a coconut smelling person hugging me.

"Stephie! Happy Christmas!" Sage said as she squeezed me between her arms. I wrapped one arm around her, still holding onto Harry's hand. "Happy Christmas to you, too, Harry."

"Happy Christmas guys," I said to everyone who was gathered around a few boxes in the living room. I turned to Harry and pulled him into the living room more. "I, uhm, I guess I should introduce you to everyone. Well, you know my sisters."

"Hiya, Harry," Alexa and Sage said together, waving and smiling brightly.

"Harry, these are my aunts, Piper, Phoebe, and Prue," I said pointing to each of them. "Oh, and my uncle Leo. He's married to Piper," I added with a whisper.

"It's great to officially meet you as her boyfriend," Piper said, standing up and giving Harry a welcoming hug. "She always spoke fondly of you."

"You're just as cute as she says," Phoebe gushed while giving him a hug, too.

"We're glad you could come, Harry," Prue said while also giving him a hug. "She seems to be really infatuated with you, so if you hurt her, I will make sure to curse you everyday."

"Guys," I started awkwardly, my face reddening. Harry's eyes seemed to have grown twice their size in his head. "You're embarrassing me."

"Sorry, Harry," Prue said apologetically. "I just want to make sure you're taken care of, Steph."

"Thanks," I grumbled quietly.

"Go put your stuff up and we'll start decorating. Piper's making French toast," Prue said while wrapping her arms around me. "I'm glad you're here for Christmas."

Once we had finished hugging, I picked my bags back up and showed Harry to the room he would be staying in and dropped off my things in my own room. Leo and Piper worked on cooking breakfast, well Leo worked on _distracting_ her (married couples, I tell ya), while my sisters, me, and Harry mostly put the tree together. We made it through the early morning without any troubles; although Sage did manage to get wrapped up in the lights while we were testing to see if they all lit up. Then again she got tangled up in tinsel, and somehow when we went to help her get _un_tangled, she managed the get the rest of us covered head to toe in the stuff.

When the tree was up, lights, tinsel, ornaments, and the star on top on, we put all of our wrapped presents underneath the tree. I stepped back to get a good looked at the scene, and shuddered slightly.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked me curiously.

"The presents. They look like they were haphazardly thrown under the tree by blind gnomes," I said while kneeling down. Alexa knelt down next to me, and the two of us started sorting them. I guess that's something I picked up from Alexa when we lived together, just the two of us sisters. There was no 'colour harmony', as expert artists would put it; the scene was not aesthetically please. The two of us spent all of our time until Piper called us for breakfast arguing over which colour one wrapping technically was and where they would fit would've kept at it all day probably, except Piper yelled at us that she would give our share of food to Sage and we would get none. I frowned, feeling my stomach grumble, and pulled Alexa up from the underbelly of the tree.

"I guess that looks okay," Alexa said, turning her head one way then another to get a good look at the presents.

"We make a good team," I said, giving her a high five.

"Yes, you pair of OCD weirdos," Sage said as she walked past us to the kitchen. "Now c'mon and eat so we can _open _that lovely display of presents." The eight of us sat down at the diner table, Harry to my left and Sage to my right. All through breakfast, Harry kept fidgeting next to me while Sage stared down my food with great intent. Sadly for her, I ate all of my food.

Once we had finished eating and the table was cleared, we gathered around the tree to open presents. Finally, it was already almost 9; probably the rest of Gryffindor tower was waking up now. My aunts and Leo took refuge on the couch and chairs while the rest of us 'kids' gathered eagerly around the tree. Alexa passed out the presents to each person, our own little stacks of presents growing each second. We went around in a circle, each person opening their own stack of presents. The order ended up being Alexa, Sage, Harry, and I.

Last, but not least, it was my turn to open my presents. I had already gotten Sage two shirts from her favorite store, Glamour Kills, Alexa a cute new purse and a collection of classic novels with redesigned covers, and Harry a fake wand and spell book kit and a package of 'Hiccuping' candies, candy that would give a person uncontrollable hiccups for hours; I told him I would skin him alive if he gave me one of them.

I opened my presents one by one, saving Harry's for last, delighting in each gift. From Alexa, I had gotten a dress that looked like a shirt and skirt combo, and a necklace with the flower of my birth month, roses, pressed in the center. Sage had gotten me a mini Chewie bobble head and a bonsai plant for my dorm. Piper had gotten me a guide to vintage shopping, and Prue a photo of my name spelled with random objects. Every year, each aunt has a different niece to buy a large, expensive present for. Phebe's had me this year, and got me the complete _90210_ series. I looked at Harry, the two of us laughing quietly at our inside joke.

I picked up Harry's gift gingerly, my hands sliding over the purple wrapping paper. I tore the paper away, and opened up the box. Inside laid a red plaid pea coat.

"Oh my gosh, Harry. It's adorable," I said smiling. "You have style?"

"Actually, Hermione helped me pick it out. I knew you wanted one, but I honestly had no idea what a...pea coat was."

"I love it , Harry. Thank you!" I said, giving him a hug and squeezing him.

"Well, if that's all, I'll start to-"

"Actually, I have one more gift for Stephanie," Harry said cutting Piper off. I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion. He pulled a small, white box tied with a pink bow out of his jacket and handed it to me. I looked from the box to Harry curiously; he nodded, what I thought looked a bit nervously, encouraging me to continue. I untied the ribbon and lifted the box top off to find, another box. This box, however, was a black velvet with a rounded top. It almost looks like, I started thinking, my eyes widening as my thoughts solidified on an object. A ring box.

I opened the box shakily, drawing a quick, deep breath in as I laid eyes on its contents. Lying inside the box was a beautiful silver ring. In the center two hears intertwined, two gemstones in each. In the heart on the right was a small red ruby, and on the left a deep, raspberry gem. Alexandrite, I think. But, Alexandrite's _extremely_ scarce and _extremely_ valuable, I thought. How on Earth was it nestled in this ring? My ring.

"How do you like it?" Harry asked. I looked up from the box to him. I was too surprised for words to answer. I threw my arms around him, hugging him closer than I had a few minutes ago. He wrapped his arms around me too, holding me.

"It's beautiful," I said astonished, pulling out of the hug and gazing at the ring again. My sisters crowded around me, looking at my ring, too. "Bu-but why? Why are you giving me this?"

"Can't a guy give his girlfriend gifts? Besides, it's Christmas," Harry answered nonchalantly.

"Nuh-uh. I don't care what season it is or who it is, you just don't give someone a ring like this," Sage said, looking closer at the ring then to Harry. "Why _are_ you giving this to her?"

"Well," Harry started taking a breath. "It's a promise ring, a promise to love you. I love you, Stephanie."  
Now _I _felt like I had been struck over the head with a frying pan. Not just from the look I was probably giving him, but my whole body was stinging and warm. Even though my body was inhaling and exhaling, I still felt short of breath.

"Wh-what did you say?" I heard myself ask breathlessly.

"I love you."

We seemed to have found each other's eyes as we stood there. I smiled brightly, seeing the smile reflected in his eyes. I threw my arms around him again, this time pulling him into a kiss. His arms wrapped around my waist while mine rested over his shoulder and on the back of his neck. His hand felt like it was burning me through my shirt as his hand started rubbing the small of my back slowly. I smiled into the kiss, inhaling his wooded scent. I curled my hand around his head, feeling the warmth of his hair spread across my hand.

"Save that for under the mistletoe, kiddos," Phoebe laughed while Sage cat called and Piper cleared her throat. We pulled apart, our arms still wrapped around eachother. Before where I had felt breathless, now I was breathing heavy. I stood there smiling like an idiot, heart rising into my cheeks and burning my face.

"Come on, guys. Let's leave these two lovebirds alone," Prue said while ushering everyone into the kitchen. Holding my hands, Harry pulled me down to sit with him on the couch. I sat there, trying to get my thoughts under control and intelligible, as Harry slid the ring on my left ring finger.

"I...I...wh-whe, what I don't- I ha," I stuttered, still trying to find words to speak. I breathed out a laugh, realizing how ridiculous I probably sounded.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, his smile faltering slightly.

"N-nothing. I mean, this is real, isn't it? You're not just giving me this ring and...telling me you love me just to please my aunts or anything, right?" I asked hoping, no _praying_, he'd agree with me that this, his feelings, the ring, was all real.

"Of course it's real," Harry said while squeezing my hand and looking me in the eyes.

"Good," I said while biting my lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like...like a doubting 's just, y'know, 'if it's too good to be true then it probably is', 'all that glitters is not gold'. We both know that I love you and hearing you say it back makes me feel like I'm flying. Which brings me to one question. Why didn't you tell me last night? I barred my heart and soul in the simplest sentence possible, and all you did was gape at me."

"I know, I'm so sorry and I feel like such a fool. I guess I was shocked that you told me first. You're a beautiful, outstanding witch and wiccan with an admirable personality," he said quickly. I blushed when he called me beautiful, glancing down at the ring on my finger. "My whole life I've either been bullied and mistreated by everyone around me, or loved and adored because I'm famous. It's phenomenal to be liked by people who like me for me, and to be loved for who I am...it's more than I could ever ask for."

"Here," Harry said pulling another box out of his jacket. "This should technically be from you to me." I took the box and opened it, seeing another ring box inside. I opened the box and found a larger silver ring inside. In the middle was a square of red rubies, 4x4. "You can't have promise rings without both people each having a ring."

I smiled, my heart fluttering at the thought of both of us making a promise to love the other. The whole 'he loves me' thing was still trying to make itself at home in my mind, but the fact that he was so sure as to _promise_ me he would love me...I never would have imagined this in my wildest dreams. I took the ring out of the box and took his left hand in mine.

"I promise to love you, Harry Potter, forever," I said while sliding the ring on his finger.

"And I promise the same," he said while lifting my hand to his lips, kissing it like some chivalrous prince. _My_ chivalrous prince.

~xx~

It was the same dream I've had a million times, but it wasn't. Well, it had been. It always started the same way. I was standing in my old house, the one I lived in with my parents and sisters. The same thing would happen every time. I always had to relive the moment when my parents we killed by that demon, whom we later found out to be Zankou. It wasn't as if I was transported into the body of my seven year old self and relieved it that way. Instead, my current self was standing almost like an unseen ghost in the background.

After killing my parents, Zankou turns to Alexa and little aims fireballs at us and kills the two youngsters in a flash instead of blinking and leaving, like what had really happened those seven years ago. He then turns to Sage, who had been knocked unconscious and injured, and kills her too for good measure. Normally, he takes note of me watching, who isn't completely ghost like, and throws a fireball my way. As I scream in terror, I die.

Well, I don't actually know if I die. Some people believe if you die in your dreams you die in real life. In fact, when my aunts first got their powers, before I went to Hogwarts, they faced a demon like that. He would enter the dreams of women who had rejected him, and kill them in their dreams. This caused great confusion for the inspectors, seeing as no traces of foul play were left. Don't worry, my aunts solved the mystery and got rid of the freak who was behind it.

This time, however, when Zankou turned to kill me, I lived. He drew back his arm, fireball in hand, and chucked it towards me. Instead of being struck by the fireball, someone tackled me to the ground taking the fireball for them self. I sat up, confused and shaken, and looked over at the demon. He smirked at me, seeming to think the poor soul who saved me was a better catch than me. He threw a fireball into the air and shimmered out.

I looked down and was surprised to see my savior was still physically there. Sometimes when people are hit by fireballs their body's just disappear, but not our friend here. I shrugged his body off of mine and rolled them over, trying to see who had saved me. I gasped, my heart receiving a painful stab, when my eyes laid upon Harry's body. I screamed like I had just taken a blow to the back, tears dotting my vision.

Suddenly, my dream changed on me.

As soon as I was kneeling over Harry's lifeless body in my old living room, I was kneeling on dewy grass. I looked up confused out of my wits. That dream normally ends with my 'death'. It should have ended with Harry's. Why the hell did it change on me and where was I now? I stood up, the wet grass squishing beneath my feet, which I now realized were bare, trying to figure out where I was. My heart started racing as I took in my surroundings. I could barely make out the dark figures in the distance. Actually, I couldn't make them out at all. The fog and mist around me was too heavy; I could only see gray shapes where the figures were.A sudden noise and something brushing my foot caused me to look down. Vines had spurted out of the ground, wrapped Harry up, and were sucking him up into the earth.

"Harry! _No!_" I screamed dropping back down to my knees. I grabbed onto his lifeless hand and tried to pull him back. He kept slipping away from me until I lost my grip on his hand completely, the vines completely covering him up, winning our little game of tug 'o war.

"No! Harry! Come back! You can't have him! Bring him back!" I screamed at the ground, clawing at the grass as if trying to dig him out. I kept screaming at the ground hysterically until I heard a twig snap not too far from me. My head jerked up, tears falling down my face, my eyes darting around rapidly for what had caused the sound. A dark figure, darker than the ones around me, appeared not too far from my left. I jumped to my feet and started backing up slowly, my eyes locked on the figure.  
A red light came shooting at me, missing me by inches.

_Wake up. Wake up, dammit!_ I screamed in my head. _This is just a dream so wake up!_

Another red light came flying at me. I turned around and took off running as fast as I could barefoot. More red lights came shooting at me from behind, which after awhile I realized were spells. I kept running in front of my, begging my legs didn't give out or my feet slip.

I thought I was safe once the spells from behind me had stopped, until a dark figure sprung out from my left and stabbed me in my stomach with a knife. My legs crumpled underneath me as the figure disappeared, leaving me to fall on the ground to die.

I sat bolt up in bed, my eyes wide and heart racing. I turned on my bedside lamp and pulled my shirt up quickly. I ran my hand over my stomach checking for any wounds or blood. I looked down to make sure nothing was there, only seeing my body trembling slightly. Once I was completely convinced my body hadn't been stabbed at all, I turned my lamp back off. I cradled my head in my hands, a sudden wave of nausea wiping over me, threatening to expel the cookies I'd had before bed.

I heard a faint knock at my door, bringing me back to my room. I looked over at the clock before answering.

"Come in?" I said a bit confused. It was almost two in the morning. Who would be up at this time wanting to have a nice little chat with me?

"Stephanie, are you alright?" Of course. Harry.

"I'm fine. Just got up for some water," I lied. I closed my eyes tight, another wave of nausea sweeping through me. Harry came into my room and closed the door behind him.

"I know you're lying," he said as he came and sat down next to me on my bed. "No offense, but you look like hell. You're pale, sweating, and have puffy eyes. Are you sure you're alright?" I ran my hands through my hair, still trying to keep myself from vomiting. I took a few steady breathes before turning to Harry.

After I finished telling him all about my dreams, we sat there for a few minutes quietly as he rubbed my back.

"This dream...," he started slowly. "You don't think it cold be like...a vision of forthcoming events, do you?"

"How so?"

"Well, those dark figures, they were obviously wizards so...do you think it could have been Death Eaters?"

"But why would they be chasing me? Voldemort's not back. Unless..._you've_ been having prophetic dreams."

"It's nothings new. It's the same dream as in the summer. But it changed last night. I was in the room with Wormtail, Voldemort, and the other man. Not just watching the scene, but I was there. This time, they called me in to kill me. That's why I woke up and heard you screaming."

"I was screaming?"

"Yea. It's been happening for the past few nights."

"I've been having the first dream every night, but then it kept changing. Each night it was a dark, blurry, mess but...it was all there tonight." Harry kissed my forehead and squeezed my hand.

"Try to get some sleep," he whispered quietly.

"I don't think I can. I'm...I'm too afraid to fall back asleep. I...I'm scared that dream will come back. I'm afraid I'll have to watch myself lose you again.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. My nausea from before had disappeared, but my mind and body was still shaking.

"What if I slept with you?"

Before I could turn around, wide-eyed, and smacked some sense into him, he added quickly, "Not in a sexual way! No, no, no! I may be a guy but I don't really-"

"Don't worry. I"m not ready yet, either. I may love you but we're only 14. As long as my aunts don't find out...I wouldn't mind."

I pulled my covers up over the two of us and lied down, still wrapped in Harry's arms. I rolled over so I was facing him and snuggled my head into his chest. I smiled, his wonderful woody scent drifting into my nostrils, calming me down. I drifted off to sleep slowly, his arms making a protective shield around me.

"I love you," I whispered into his shirt.

"I love you, too," he whispered into my hair before we both fell asleep.

I didn't have any nightmares after that night. I didn't have any more for the rest of break. Each night, Harry would sneak back into my room and we'd fall asleep together, wrapped up in each others arms.


	17. I Certainly Am One Less Lonely Girl

Once we all returned back to the castle and school, any thoughts about the Tournament were long forgotten once more. It seemed everyone had 'forgot' their professor's assigned them homework over the break. The professors weren't too pleased when everyone returned back without _any_ of their homework done. Not even Hermione. Okay, she had more or less of hers done. Like she would really just not do her homework for two weeks. They ended up giving us the next few days to catch up.

Halfway through January, once everyone was caught up with their homework, we were rewarded with a Hogsemede trip. Hermione was a bit surprised when Harry signed up to go.

"I just thought you'd want to take advantage of the common room being quiet," she said. "Really get to work on that egg."  
"Oh I - I reckon I've got a pretty good idea what it's about now," Harry said a bit easily, not looking at any of us.  
"Have you really?" Hermione said, looking impressed. "Well done!"

He's lying, he must be. He has no bloody idea what his egg means. He hasn't had any time to figure it out. He's been spending all his time with me since we got back finishing our school work. I mean, unless the answer came to him in a dream from an angel, he hasn't figured it out. He's just trying to ease our worries.

I turned my attention back to the newspaper I was reading until I happened to see the front page.

"For the love of God!" I said suddenly.

"What?" Ron asked, looking up confused.

"That God forsaken Skeeter woman's at it again." Harry, Ron, and Hermione scrambled to crowd around to see what I was screaming about.

"What's she got to say now?" Harry groaned as he started skimming the article.

"Well, long, ridiculous, probably 95% completely fabricated story short, she's now reporting Hagrid is some murderous, bloodthirsty giant," I scoffed while rolling my eyes.

"How did she find out?" Ron asked, his mouth open.

"It's a load of bullshit, that's what it is," I said angrily, not paying attention to Ron.

"Steph, watch your mouth around the first years," Hermione chastised.

"What does she mean, 'we all hate Hagrid'?" Harry spat as he read. "What's this rubbish about Crabbe getting a bad bite off a flobberworm? They haven't even got teeth!"

"And Draco getting attacked by Buckbeak. Yes, it happened, but Hagrid warned us not to provoke them. That dumbass openly provoked him, it's his own damn fault," I continued.

"Seriously, Stephanie, watch it around the younger kids," Hermione said sternly, slapping my shoulder.

"Sorry, Mione," I grumbled. "She's just such an infuriating character! I mean, twisting and turning the truth to get a good story is one thing, but down right lying-"

"She's not lying," Ron spoke up.

"What?"

"She's not flat lying. During the Yule Ball," Ron started. Hermione shifted next to me and Ron cleared his throat before he continued. I guess the Ball was still a bit of a touchy subject between the two of them. "During the Ball, I went out for a bit of a stroll. I was hiding in some bushes and heard Hagrid and Maxime talking. He started asking about 'which side was it' for her and about is own past before he flat out said he was a half-giant."

"What's the big deal if he's half-giant?" Harry asked.

"No one who knows him will really care 'cos we know he's not dangerous. Besides, I think most of us knew it anyways. But, they're just vicious, giants. It's in their natures, they're like trolls...they just like killing, everyone knows that."

"What'd Maxime say?" I asked.

"She denied anything he asked her," Ron replied. "Kept saying 'it vas big bonez'."

"I don't know who Maxime thinks she's kidding," Harry said. "If Hagrid's half-giant, she definitely is. Big bones...the only thing that's got bigger bones than her is a dinosaur."

"Harry," I said, folding the paper up and looking at him. "If you ever get the chance to, oh I don't know, do stand up comedy or host Saturday Night Live, don't. You're not that funny."

"Oh, c'mon," he said smiling faintly. "So maybe I'm not always the funniest person, but you gotta admit, that was a good one." I bit my lip to restrain from smiling or laughing. Okay...so that time he had been a tad funny, but I wasn't going to let him know now.

"Whatever," I said with a smile, rolling my eyes, and playfully slapping his shoulder. He grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm around me, like I was hugging myself, and pulled me closer to him.

"What I don't get is how she found out. She wasn't eavesdropping around you, Ron, was she?" Hermione asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I think I would have seen her if she was anywhere near me," Ron replied a little annoyed.

"Then how on earth could she have found out? You don't think Hagrid would have told her, do you?" Hermione questioned.

"No, definitely not," Harry sighed, shaking his head.

"If she keeps spying on us like this and terrorizing our friends, I'm going to get to the bottom of this somehow," Hermione said determinedly before standing up and going to bed.

The weeks leading up to the Second Task suddenly seemed to turn into just two. Harry had finally come to me a few days ago saying he had just figured the egg out. I knew he had been lying before. He said Cedric came up to him one day and wanted to repay the favour of offering some 'friendly advice' on the task.

_"Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground,  
And while you're searching, ponder this:  
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,  
An hour long you'll have to look,  
And to recover what we took,  
But past an hour- the prospect's black,  
Too late, it's gone, it wont come back" _

"Okay," I said slowly. "But what on earth does that mean?"

"Mermaids...I think. I'm, er, not exactly sure. All I've got is mermaids and a time limit of an hour, but that's it."

"We'll figure something out, I promise," I told him, squeezing his shoulder and kissing his cheek.

Harry and I had tried to work out the clue on our own, yet we had no such luck. When he finally told me he hadn't figured the egg out until then, we promised we wouldn't tell Hermione unless we absolutely needed to and had no idea what else to do. Well of course, the point came when we had no idea what to do. Hermione wasn't too pleased when she found out Harry had _just_ figured out the egg.

"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly.  
"Keep your voice down!" said Harry crossly. "I just needed to - sort of fine-tune it, all right?"

"Right, fine tune. Hang on while I 'fine tune' my Charms essay," I said sarcastically.

"Have you even started that thing?" Ron asked.

"Nope. That's the point," I replied curtly. Harry and Hermione both narrowed their eyes at me a bit. "Sorry."

"I'm sure we can figure something out. We figured out the First Task in less time with less people, we should be able to knock this one out of the park," Hermione said turning to her book.

Sadly, Hermione's hypothesis wasn't quite right. At first we went and looked in the library during breaks. We couldn't find anything helpful and started spending any free time we had in there. What had originally been weeks to solve the Task suddenly became less than twenty four hours, and the four of us were still clueless.

"Of course, the ideal solution would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," Hermione said. "If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing..."  
"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," Harry said.

"I wouldn't really fancy it, either," I yawned while tossing the book I was looking at away.

"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."

"Stephanie, what about those aqua-Lungs things Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan use in the first _Star Wars_? Is there any spell or potion you can think of like that?" Harry asked.

"Harry, they're Jedi's. Let's be realistic about it," I yawned again, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I reckon they're pulling our legs; it can't be done."  
"There must be something," Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of _Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms_ with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."  
"They have," said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."  
"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!"  
"I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting, face-down, on _Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts_. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius."  
"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron.  
"Or a frog," yawned Harry.

"Or an octopus or something. Y'know, something that could actually rescue something that was fairly sized without getting killed in the process," I offered.

"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said Hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of _Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions_. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember...you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office...what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it..."  
"...Hermione, we were joking," said Harry wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning..."  
"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut _Weird Wizarding Dilemmas_. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"  
"I wouldn't mind," said Fred's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?" The four of us looked up; Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.  
"You two _are_ a talking point. What're you doing here?" I asked, rubbing my tired eyes.

"Looking for you, actually," George said. "McGonagall wants you, Stephanie. And you too, Hermione."

"Why?" Hermione said, looking surprised.  
"Dunno...she was looking a bit grim, though," Fred said.  
"We're supposed to take you down to her office," George said. Hermione and I looked from each other to the two boys, confused.  
"We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry and Ron as we got up to go. I could see my own anxiety and weariness reflected in her face. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"  
"Right," said Harry uneasily.

"We'll be back in a quick jiffy," I told Harry, kissing him quickly on the lips. "We'll come back and figure this thing out."

"'A quick jiffy?' Stephanie, you're not some country bumpkin," Hermione said once we'd left the library.

"Or are you?" Fred and George countered together.

"No, I'm not. Sage got me reading this new book series, and one of the girls _is_ a country bumpkin. I guess Stevie Rae is just contagious," I replied.

"Stephanie, you don't think McGonagall learned we were trying to help Harry? You don't think she's going to get onto us for it, do you?" Hermione asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"No. If she did, don't you think she'd want to talk to either Harry or you, me, _and_ Ron? Besides, I don't think she'd send these goofballs to retrieve us," I said while gesturing to Fred and George.

"So, Miss Lovebird Cradey, how was your first Valentine's Day with boy wonder?" Fred asked as we turned a corner to another corridor.

"Why do you ask?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows.

"Just wondering. Did you two...you know?" George smiled mischievously to Fred, wiggling his eyebrows.

"If you're referring to what I think you are, then _no_, we absolutely did not engage in any adult activities. We're fourteen, for goodness sakes," I replied quickly.

"You two're no fun," Fred frowned.

"Even if we did, like we'd tell you," I said while rolling my eyes.

"So then what did you two do if you didn't 'knock boots'?" George countered.

"Well..." I started thinking about that day.

_I woke up Thursday morning, clueless to what I would encounter throughout the day. It was my first Valentine's Day with Harry, not to mention my first V-day with a boyfriend that I really liked. After the rings he got us for Christmas, I was sure whatever he did would be sweet and romantic._

_ Once I was awake enough to sit up and think about getting ready, a single rose materialized and fell onto my lap. I picked it up gingerly and turned the stem, looking at the delicate flower, a smile slowly making it's way onto my face. Once I was dressed and ready for the day, I pulled my hair back with a few bobby pins and clipped the rose in with it. I grabbed my bag and padded my way down to the common room, smiling brightly._

_I walked over to Harry who was sitting on the arm of a chair, waiting for me._

_ "Morning, Steph. Nice rose," he said, lightly touching the flower in my hair._

_ "Thanks. You had something to do with it, didn't you?" I asked smirking at him._

_ "You caught me," he said raising his hands in fake surrender. "Happy Valentine's Day." He placed his hand on my neck and pulled me into a quick kiss. We pulled apart, two giddy smiles on our faces. He laced his fingers between mine and we made our way down to breakfast._

_ The house elves really seemed to get into the Valentine's Day spirit. Heart shaped pancakes (the kind Hallmark and card makers advertise, not an actual representation of the organ that resides in our bodies), fillings to make every kind of crepe imaginable, and fruits of every shade and hue of red possible. Some fruits, I do believe, had been transfigured into unnatural shades of pink; unnatural for that fruit, at least.  
Transfiguration seemed more lax than normal. McGonagall, perhaps, had also been influenced by Cupid's arrow. Okay, so maybe she wasn't lost in her own la-la land with some charming wizard, but she seemed to notice the rest of us were. At the start of class, she started briefly explaining a new topic to us. After a few minutes of students repeatedly asking McGonagall to repeat what she had said or McGonagall getting onto students for _PDA _and such, she backtracked and told us to continue practicing the same spell as before._

_I was surprised when Harry dashed out of class suddenly during break. We had a whole other __session of Transfiguration left, where the heck was he going in such a hurry? We normally just stayed __in class until the second block, just talking and goofing off. I shrugged it off and went over to sit by Hermione, Jennifer, and Parker. _

_ I returned to my seat at the sound of the bell, starting to get a bit worried since Harry hadn't turned up yet. Ten minutes into class, he came walking back in, slightly winded. McGonagall looked up from her desk, gave him a look that said _'if it weren't Valentine's Day, you'd be in detention until you graduate, Potter'_, and returned back to her papers._

_ "Where were you?" I asked turning to him._

_ "You'll find out soon enough," he replied nonchalantly. I narrowed my eyebrows at him, wondering what on earth he had planned up his sleeve. I shrugged it off, figuring I'd find out soon enough._

_ Soon enough I did. _

_The end of our second block ended, more than likely leaving us students with another red and pink induced meal._

_ "Would you care to join me for lunch?" Harry asked just outside the door._

_ "Er- yeah," I replied a bit confused. We always ate lunch together. In fact, we ate _all_ meals together. Not because we were dating, but we were best friends in the same house. I followed his lead, none the less, feeling my stomach start to grumble with hunger. Reaching the Entrance Hall, I was shocked when we didn't turn into the Great Hall, but rather continued walking on out the door into the Courtyard._

_ "Where are we going?" I questioned._

_ "You'll see in a minute," he said with a sly smile. I watched him as we walked, trying to see if his face would give away any hints. Either I wasn't good at reading between the lines, or Harry's feelings were behind a brick wall. We walked across the Courtyard and grounds, my curiosity increasing each second. He continued to lead me across the grounds, eventually up to Hagrid's hut. I looked at him confused. He just smiled and opened the door, leading us in._

_ If I would have been led her blindfolded, I wouldn't have guessed it was Hagrid's hut. Okay, well maybe I would have. Hagrid's furniture was moved to the sides of the room, a red-checkered picnic blanket and a picnic basket on the cleaned floor. A warm fire was crackling heartily in the fireplace._

_ "Lunch?" he asked again, gesturing to the blanket before us and offering me his hand. I took his hand smiling and sat down on the blanket with him._

_ "What's this all for?" I asked looking around the room. It seemed like the whole room was glowing red. Maybe it was from the light of the fire or the fact Valentine's Day was stuck on my mind._

_ "It's our first Valentine's Day together. I wanted to do something special and cute," he said while opening the basket and started pulling out the food._

_ "Orange soda, cut pears, and...chicken alfredo?" I said while looking at the food he pulled out. I smiled and finished, "These are all my favorite foods."_

_ "Correct," he said with a small smile pulling out the last container of food. "And red velvet cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting."_

_"Jennifer told you to bring those, didn't she," I said with a knowing smile._

_ "Yes," he replied with a chuckle. "She said to bring them unless I wanted to be single after today." The two of us laughed and started digging into the lunch he had prepared. _

_"Can I talk to you about something?" Harry asked as I finished off my chicken alfredo a while later._

_ "Sure."_

_ "Well, I just wanted to talk about us. Exactly how I feel about us and our relationship."_

_ I honestly have no idea what I expect to come out of his mouth when he starts talking about our relationship. Sometimes I can read him like a book, but other times I'm clueless as to what he's thinking __or about to say._

_ "Ever since we started dating people have been talking about us, mostly that we won't last long. I've heard some say that we're just silly teenagers, or that it's just puppy love, that it will never go anywhere and won't last forever, that we're not really in love. They're all wrong. If what I feel for you isn't love, then I don't know what love is. I may not love you with _everything_ I have. We are only fourteen after all, but give it time and I will. I have a feeling that if we keep going like this, we'll only come closer to a real love. I really do care for and love you," he said sincerely, taking my hand as he spoke. I smiled and bit my bottom lip, heat starting to flood my cheeks. I moved across the blanket and cuddled up next to him as his arms wrapped around me, pulling me close._

_ "I've heard them talk, too. I've also heard people say that...that' I'm only with you for your fame and money. I think they're just jealous of what we have, because I, too, really love and care for you. Wholeheartedly, honest to God, undoubtedly, one-hundred and fifty percent, in love with you," I said, smiling to myself, snuggling into his body some more. I picked up a cupcake, scooped a bit of icing off of it, and wiped it on Harry's nose._

_ "Why on earth did you do that?" he asked with a laugh wiping the icing off is nose._

_ "I dunno, just felt like it," I said with a silly smile. He picked up a cupcake and stuck it onto my nose, leaving a fair amount of icing on my own nose._

_ "Thanks, Harry. Thank you so much for frosting my nose," I said sarcastically while squinting my eyes. He leaned in and kissed my nose, cleaning off the frosting and making me squeal. He leaned down more and kissed me. I smiled into the kiss as I tasted the cream-cheese icing on his own lips. I wrapped my hand around his neck and pulled him deeper into the kiss. He, obviously, didn't argue and leaned into me more._

_ "Cookie?" He asked while offering a plate of cookies to me. _

_ "Sure," I smiled while pulling one off the plate and up to my lips. I was seconds away from closing my teeth around the delectable cookie when my nose caught the scent of something I've come to recognize in a split second._

_ "Something wrong?" Harry asked with a mouthful of food as I pulled the cookie away from my face._

_ "What kind of cookies did you say these were?" I asked, looking at the cookie carefully._

_ "I didn't, but they're peanut butter."_

_ I nearly jumped out of my skin as I launched the cookie across the room._

_ "What's the matter with you?" Harry asked, looking at me._

_ "I can't believe I haven't told you before now. I'm allergic to peanut butter."_

_ "Oh, I'm so sorry, Stephanie. I had no idea."_

_ "Don't worry about it, you had no idea. Now come here," I said while leaning in._

_ "Wait," Harry said, pulling back. "I just ate a cookie. There still might be some peanut butter residue on my lips. I wouldn't want to send you to Madame Pomfrey just because of a kiss." _

_ "I guess you're right," I sighed leaning back._

_ "There's something I don't understand. I've seen you eat Reese's before. They're your favorite candy. How can you eat something that's 80% something you're allergic to?"_

_ "Well we didn't know I was allergic to it until I was 10, and by that time I was addicted to them. Sometimes my aunts treat me and let me have some peanut butter cups, but they have to have a special potion ready to keep me from swelling up like a balloon."_

_ "So you'd risk an allergic reaction just to eat your favorite candy?"_

_ "I almost risked the same thing just to kiss you," I said shyly, looking down at the ground awkwardly._

_ He cupped my face in his hand and raised it so we were looking at each other._

_ "I'd risk anything for you," I whispered as the two of us continued to stare at each other. He leaned in and kissed my forehead._

_ "I almost forgot, I got this for you, too," Harry said while turning around and picking something up from behind a chair. He turned back around and present a black and white stuffed dog with a red heart over its left eye. Over the dog's ears were a pair of feathered earrings, and around his neck was a heart necklace with a pair of keys on the chain, too._

_ "Oh my gosh, Harry, they jewelry- it's beautiful," I gushed, running my fingers over the fuzzy feather earrings and the cool metal of the necklace._

_ "I'm glad you like them," he said, pulling me into another kiss. He looked at his after we had broken apart. "Our lunch period's almost over. C'mon, let's go before we're late to Defense Against the Dark Arts."_

_ "I don't think Moody will be as laid back as McGonagall just because it's Valentine's Day," I said standing up. I took the jewelry off the stuffed animal and put it on, stuffing my dog into my bag. We walked back up to the castle and class hand in hand, and I may be wrong, but it seemed as if we were walking a little closer than we had before._

_ Moody did not start class on time, which was lucky for Hermione. Five minutes after the bell she came into class looking disheveled and aggravated._

_ "Mione, what's got your wand in a knot?"_

_ "It's all that unpleasant Skeeter's fault," she said, ripping her books out of her bag._

_ "Oh no, what now?" Harry groaned._

_ "She was sulking around trying to spy couples. She kept asking where you were, Harry. I wouldn't tell her though, of course."_

_ "Then why do you look so ticked?" I asked._

_ "I told her off about what she wrote about Hagrid," she said nonchalantly._

_ "What?" Harry and I asked together._

_ "Calls me a 'silly little girl' and I shouldn't talk about things I don't understand. Pfft, says she could tell me stories that could curl my hair... 'not like it needs it,'" Hermione said, talking more to herself at this point than us._

_ "Mione, I'd be really careful if I were you. She may be a filthy liar, but she seems to have the entire wizarding world wrapped around her manicured finger. There may not be anything in your past __she can dig up, but I'm sure she can make something up just as bad," I warned. I've seen muggle tabloids. I've seen how the media can destroy people. I just hope Skeeter doesn't trash her too hard._

We reached McGonagall's office and entered quietly, still unsure of why we were here.

"Ah, Mister and Mister and Weasley, thank you for your services, that shall be all," McGonagall said to the boys, waving them off. "Miss Cradey, Miss Granger. If you will join Miss Delacour and Miss Chang and have a seat." I took the seat to Gabrielle's, Fleur's little sister, right and Hermione took the seat to my right.

"Why 'ave you called us 'ere, Professeur?" Gabrielle asked in her cute, little girl, French accent.

"I could imagine Stephanie and Hermione," Cho started. "But I'm not in your house, and Gabrielle isn't even a student here."

"I believe I can answer your question, Miss Chang," Dumbledore said, entering the room from a side door. He crossed the room and took his position next to McGonagall.

"Why are we here, Professors?" Hermione asked.

"That is an excellent question, Miss Granger. As I'm sure you're all aware," Dumbledore started, giving Hermione and I a knowing look, "the Second Task of the Tournament is only hours aware. I'm sure, as all of you are close with at least one champion, you may have been given insight on the task tomorrow morning. If not, allow me to fill you in."

He pulled out his wand and stirred the air with it a bit. A, almost hologram like, picture of the same golden egg each champion appeared in the air. The tab on top unscrewed, opening the egg to us. Rather than the screeching we heard when Harry opened his, a beautiful, enchanting voice filled the room.

_ "Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground,  
And while you're searching, ponder this:  
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,  
An hour long you'll have to look,  
And to recover what we took,  
But past an hour- the prospect's black,  
Too late, it's gone, it wont come back" _

"What exactly does that mean, Professor?" I asked. I shook my head slightly, sensing some déjà vu as I had asked Harry the same thing before.

"Well, Miss Cradey, allow me to explain. The voice emitted from the egg was that of a mermaids. Whether you are aware of it or not, there are merpeople inhabiting the Black Lake. The students of Hogwarts and the merpeople usually keep to themselves. For the Second Task, the merpeople have agreed to allow the champions into their realm in order to retrieve what has been taken.

The four of you each belong to one of the champions, if you will. You are the person they would miss most; their deepest treasure."

Hearing this, I smiled to myself. I was Harry's deepest treasure. Somehow, phrasing it that way rather than 'he loves me' seemed much more sweet and romantic.

"How exactly will we be taking a part of the Task, Professor?" Hermione asked, reading my thoughts and probably everyone's in the room.

"We will place the four of you under a simple, yet powerful, sleeping spell. You will be placed under the spell here. You will then be placed in the Black Lake at a specific location where the champions will need to rescue you within the hour time limit. If they do not, the merpeople will return you to the surface unharmed. Don't worry about being underwater for so long, we will also allow you to breathe while you are submerged.

"If there are no more questions, we shall begin to place each of you under the spell," McGonagall said. Dumbledore and McGonagall walked over to Cho and began with her, going down the line.

"Hermione, how's Harry going to get through the task?" I asked. "If...if he and Ron haven't figured something out my morning, what will he do?"

"I'm sure the two of them will figure something out. I hate to say it, but if he doesn't come up with some plan, he'll more than likely wing it and be able to make it far enough," Hermione said reassuringly. I turned back around, McGonagall and Dumbledore just finishing up Gabrielle and advancing on me.

"Ready, Miss Cradey?"

"Ready," I sighed. The two of them waved their wands, speaking the incantation as they did. I leaned back in my chair, feeling my eyes start to droop. I closed my eyes, feeling myself slipping into unconsciousness.


End file.
